


Keep Me Afloat

by melodyinlove



Category: GOT7
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Sports, High School, M/M, Romance, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2017-08-24
Packaged: 2018-05-31 08:22:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 39,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6462871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melodyinlove/pseuds/melodyinlove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After getting kicked out of the Hong Kong national fencing team, Jackson Wang is sent to one of the best sports driven high school located in Seoul. For some reason, however, throughout all his harship, he finds comfort near the swimming pool, where he often enounters Mark Tuan, the highly regarded swimming captain who hardly takes interest in other people's affairs, but for some reason finds himself curious about Jackson. </p><p> </p><p>Im Jaebum, the fencing captain, faces the dilemma of having someone on his team who is better than him and worries if he could still be the star that he always dreamed of being. Throughout all this worry, he is glad to have his boyfriend Youngjae beside him, but the two are constantly on watch as they're scared of coming out due to the homophobic atmosphere the school contains. Youngjae, however, has his own secret that he is too scared for his significant other to find out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Day

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfic is the same one on AFF. I just decided to put it on here as well. :-)
> 
> UPDATE: I did change the rating to Teen as I realize the language can get quite vivid, so yeah.

“This is my home for the next year,” Jackson announced to himself as he walked into his dorm room, which was spacious with simplistic decoration. The color scheme was mainly black and white and there were a couple inspiring quotes on the walls.

According to the teacher in charge, he was assigned the largest dorm room alone. Jackson told the teacher it was not necessary and didn't want to be treated differently because of his past, but the arrangements had already been made. Jackson unpacked his luggage, which wasn’t much so he was able to relax on his comfortable bed. He had two days to settle in before school and he decided to take advantage of them.

“Ladies, you cannot be here. This is the male dorm!” yelled the teacher with struggle to his voice as he was blocking the hoard of girls from entering.

“We heard there’s a new international student here that’s super cute. Let us see him!” fussed one female student as other girls began to whine.

Jackson chuckled and locked his door, not really wanting any disturbances at the moment. He was still getting over the jet lag. Even though Hong Kong wasn’t too far from South Korea, he hated plane rides in general and they always made his body feel weak. He tried taking a nap, but failed so he grabbed something out of a chest that he kept locked at all times. It was his official Hong Kong fencing jersey.

“Can I get through this?” he whispered to himself, hoping that this school would help him through his struggles. He held his jersey tightly and was able to fall asleep right away.

 

Mark slammed his alarm off and opened his eyes slightly. It was still quite early in the morning so the sun was hardly peering through his window. After a few minutes of just wrestling around, he finally got up and quickly showered and got dressed. The uniform was sleek black pants, a white collared button up, dark gray blazer, and a tie of the color of your respective team in school. Mark, being in the swimming team, had a dark blue tie, but there were others such as dark gray for fencing, green for soccer, light blue for water polo and more. He fastened it to his neck, but loosened it considerably as he couldn’t stand looking so preppy.

“You’re finally awake. I’ve been waiting,” chuckled Mark’s close friend, Park Jinyoung. They lived next door to one another and since Mark lived alone, Jinyoung’s mom often brought him food to eat and today was one of those days.

Mark rolled his eyes and sat down in front of Jinyoung and started eating. The two didn’t say much and just ate until their plates were empty. After putting and washing their plates in the sink, they walked out where Mrs. Park was waiting for them.

“Mark, you look even handsomer,” complimented the lady, in which Mark simply smiled and thanked her. She often complimented his looks and compared him to her son, getting whines from the boy.

“I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever. Where do you go during breaks?” Jinyoung clung onto the Taiwanese boy who pushed him off.

“Y’know. This and that,” Mark didn’t really like telling people about his business outside of school, including Jinyoung.

The rest of the car ride went silent as Jinyoung knew not to push the quiet boy. After receiving several kisses from Mrs. Park and told to have fun and do well, the two were dropped off only to see a crowd of girls in front of the school.

“What’s going on over there?”

Mark shrugged and looked as he saw a bright male face in the center of the sea of females. The male was an international student as he was obviously not Korean, most likely new to the school as well. He had a sharp jawline and smooth velvety skin. His brunette hair seemed to have received little attention, but the way it fell into place was charming. The student’s smiling face was quite attractive and brightened Mark’s mood instantly. For some reason he looked a tiny bit familiar to the Taiwanese boy, but not enough for Mark to really care and get into it. The new student seemed to like the attention he was getting from all the girls which made Mark chuckle as the boy seemed petty because of it.

“Pathetic,” he quietly dissed in English as he walked passed the crowd.

Jackson had no idea who said that, but heard it and turned to where he heard the voice immediately, but saw no one. He was disappointed and sighed. The girls were still fathoming over him and honestly, he wasn’t really feeling it anymore as he wanted to find the owner of that voice and have a fun conversation in English. He knew Korean pretty well due to the lessons he took in Korea and the Korean nannies he had over the years, but he was still rusty.

The bell rang and the crowd dispersed quickly. Jackson smiled and took a deep breath as he felt suffocated around all those girls. He knew he was quite good looking, so he figured those were the side effects of being irresistible. The new student walked into the office and got a quick rundown of how it worked in the school.

“Welcome to JY Pro-sports Academy. This is one of the top sports focused high schools in the world and we are proud to say so. Only the basic classes are given and as long as you get Cs in your classes, you can continue to stay here. 90% of students here go on to further teams such as college, pro, and recreational. I hope you enjoy going here!” the receptionist handed Jackson his schedule, which after looking at, didn’t seem too hard of classes.

“Do you know who you’re talking to, Ms. Shin?” 

Jackson looked up and saw the principal, Mr. Park Jinyoung, a famous fencing athlete back in the day. He was someone Jackson looked up to and he immediately bowed to the legend. The principle laughed and shook Jackson’s hand.

“He’s a part of Hong Kong’s national fencing team. Mr. Jackson Wang, it is a pleasure to have you here,” welcomed the principal with a bright smile.

“I… would prefer if no one knew that, if that is okay with you,” Jackson had his head down as he was quite embarrassed to say so.

_I was in the Hong Kong national fencing team. I was, but not anymore._

“Of course. I’ll make sure of that as I haven’t blabbed to anyone about our VIP student,” Mr. Park laughed as he pat Jackson’s head before leaving.

Jackson walked out of the office and took a deep breath in disappointment over his conversation with Mr. Park. He didn't want to be known as the Hong Kong national fencing player because that wasn't him anymore. After relaxing up a bit, he went on to class, which had little to no participation as most of the students didn’t bother to put a lot of effort as they hoped to get into college through athletics not academics. Because of the atmosphere, Jackson also fell into the same slump and didn’t bother to focus in his classes either.

 

Jinyoung and Mark slammed their lunch plates on their usual table, smiling as school lunches were actually pretty good. They looked around for their two other friends and saw them still in line fooling around. The taller one was in a gray tie and loved to tease and mess around with his close friend. Most people were scared of the shorter one in the green tie as he was the ASB President, but the taller one didn't care at all.

"Mark, we didn't see you at all during break. How are you?" chuckled the gray tie as he sat down.

"I'm fine, Jaebum. Nothing much," Mark shrugged his shoulders.

"Jaebum-ahh, you can't just leave me like that!" yelled the boy with the green tie as he ran to the table.

"That's what you get for joking around like that, Youngjae!" he laughed as he patted the boy's head. Youngjae pouted and didn't say a word as he stuffed food in his mouth.

Mark and Jinyoung laughed at Jaebum and Youngjae's behavior. The two were always like that, but in the end they were inseparable, an even stronger bond than Mark and Jinyoung as Mark would like to believe, but slightly embarrassed to admit. Jinyoung looked around and saw the new international student sitting alone, but he didn't look sad at all as his eyes gleamed looking at the delicious food that was served.

"So, what do you guys think is up with that new international kid?" Jinyoung pointed at Jackson with his spoon.

"All I know is his name is Jackson Wang, he's a senior like us and he's from Hong Kong. He doesn't have a tie yet, so I can't tell what sport he plays, but he looks like a basketball player to me," said Youngjae with a mouth still filled with food. Of course the ASB president would know something about the guy.

"Finish the food in your mouth before you talk. It's gross," scolded Jaebum as he smacked Youngjae's head. The two began to bicker, Youngjae whining about how much it hurt while Jaebum laughing saying he deserved it.

"I think he's a water polo player. Look at his figure," Mark pointed out as he finished his meal.

_It looks similar to Peniel's and that guy's the water polo captain._

Mark had an unfond past with Peniel that he hated talking about him. His friends had a suspicion of Mark being uncomfortable so they never brought him up.

"Since he's an international student, I'll ask Bambam to find some information on him. But, if he's coming in his senior year, he must be quite a good player at what he does. Personally, I think he looks like a fencer," Jaebum glared at Jinyoung as he was fencing captain.

"Don't you say that! This is my year and I'm not gonna let some new student take that from me!" Jaebum yelled. If that was true about Jackson, he was quite scared as he needed to do well this year.

"Jaebum-ah, I need to talk to you about something," whispered the fencing coach, Mr. Ly, as he tapped the captain's shoulder.

Jaebum looked up and saw the slightly worried face in his coach and immediately got up and walked with him to a more private location, which was a closeby empty room. Before speaking, the coach took a deep breath.

"Do you know what the Asian Junior and Cadet Fencing Championships are?"

"Yeah, it's a yearly thing and it's somewhere I've always wanted to compete in," Jaebum slowly answered, nervous for what the topic of this conversation will be about.

"The new international student, Jackson Wang, he won that competition, placed 11th in the Summer Youth Olympics the year before, and is also a part of the Hong Kong national fencing team," the coach informed, worried as he knew how much Jaebum wanted to be the star of fencing sabre this year. Jaebum's eyes grew wide as he was shocked of how good of a player Jackson was. His mind boggled and he felt like his world was flipped upside down.

"Well, maybe he fences epeé, or fences with--" Jaebum blabbered, only to get cut off.

"Sabre. He fences with a sabre," the coach bit his lip, "I'm gonna go finish the rest of my lunch. Also, principal's orders were not to let anyone know about this, so if you blab, everyone's going to know I told you so keep your mouth shut."

The coach walked away and Jaebum fell to the ground. This was going to ruin his plans. Tears fell from his eyes and he couldn’t help but punch the wall. It felt frustrating and upsetting that someone so good and talented was going to be the star this year in fencing, particularly sabre. He was supposed to be the star and show to everyone how hard he has worked since he first picked up fencing and now a new kid was going to take it from him.

“Baby…” Youngjae whispered as he walked in on the captain crying. He immediately closed the door, sat down, and held Jaebum in his arms, “I don’t know what’s going on, but it’ll be okay. I promise you.”

Jaebum cried into Youngjae’s arms and felt absolutely safe. His heart felt completely at ease and temporarily forgot about his confusion and pain over the matter of Jackson. His pride and wanted glory over fencing for once didn’t matter. The reason why he wants to be the best fencing left his mind and all that he could think about was his significant other, Choi Youngjae.

“That’s right. If you have to cry, cry in my arms,” Youngjae comforted as he rubbed the captain’s back, “I’ll love you throughout every single emotion, every single moment because you deserve nothing less, baby.”

Jaebum stopped crying and quickly wiped his tears. He faced Youngjae and cupped his hands to the boy’s cheeks. Their eyes closed and hearts raced as Jaebum brought his face closer to the president’s, until he could feel Youngjae’s breath on his skin. Their lips grazed against one another and they were just about to passionately kiss.

And then the bell rang.

The two froze and immediately backed away, awkwardly laughing as they got up. Youngjae reached for the doorknob and was about to open the door until Jaebum grabbed the boy’s wrist and pulled him into his arms.

“Just wait. Don’t move,” Jaebum softly murmured, “I love you so much. You know that right?”

“Of course I do. I love you too,” Youngjae assured, holding the boy tightly in his arms.

“Okay, let’s go,” said Jaebum, letting go of Youngjae and opening the door. The captain smiled at him and laughed before leaving. Youngjae stared in amazement at how Jaebum’s mood easily changed, but giggled to himself before running after his boyfriend.

 

There was one more class before it was time to get into everyone’s sports teams so all the students were jittering out of their seats, annoying the poor teachers who still had to try to teach. A good amount of them were coaches themselves so they didn’t mind too much, but those who weren’t often thought they weren’t paid enough to deal with this.

A lot of people were also curious to find out what sport Jackson played as he had not told anyone and wasn’t wearing a tie. From time to time, Jackson would catch his classmates staring at him during the last class especially. He heard the whispers of people guessing what team he belonged to and Jackson laughed at some of them and wanted to yell how wrong they were, but he kept his composure and had a straight face.

“Okay, class dismissed. Have fun at practice!”

Students ran out of their classrooms, itching to play the sport they were passionate in. For those in the fall sports such as water polo, cross country, and volleyball, they had already been practicing throughout the break, so practice wasn’t too new to them. However, those in the other seasonal sports had the whole break without any team practice, so they couldn’t wait to not only improve, but do what they love.

 

The swim and water polo teams headed straight to the lockers rooms to dress in appropriate attire. Mark, being the slowest walker and having the farthest class, was the last one to get in the locker room, so he ended up changing out to trunks alone. He took off his watch and was about to close his locker, until someone harshly closed it with one hand and the other hit the other locker beside him, the person was pinning the confused captain. Mark's heart rate rose as the person pressed his body against the swimming captain and he immediately knew who it was as the water polo captain whispered in his ear.

"Remember our deal. You better get them to help us, hun," Peniel threatened, chuckling as he walked away.

Mark stayed frozen as his whole body felt cold due to the water polo captain's appearance. His mind boggled and he forgot where he was until he heard one of his members calling for him.

"Mark? Where are you? We're waiting for you!" Jinyoung ran around the lockers to find his captain.

"I'm here!" the captain faintly called out, running to where he heard the voice.

Jinyoung asked what had happened to Mark, but the boy just smiled and said he was fine before running off to the swimming pool where he saw all the members in a straight line in front of the pool. Their coach stood in front of them, smiling.

"I'm sorry I'm late." Mark apologized as he stood next to the coach and Jinyoung followed standing next to the members. "There's no need for a long introduction as I was captain last year and all of you have worked with me before. I hope we have a great year together."

Mark bowed to the members and they bowed back saying they will work hard. The coach tapped Mark's shoulder, signaling he had something to say. Mark agreed and stepped back as he knew what was going to happen

"A lot of other sport teams in this school have a vice captain and after consideration, the swimming team will also join the trend and our vice captain is Park Jinyoung. Congratulations."

Jinyoung looked surprised and the other member began to clap for him. Mark smiled at his new vice captain as this was something he had asked the coach to do. Despite how Mark has gotten better at speaking and leading, he felt like it would be easier for him and the team to have a vice captain to fill in where Mark couldn't and there was no better choice than Jinyoung.

Jinyoung stood next to Mark and smiled. He couldn't believe this was happening and he felt so much closer to achieving greatness.

"I am thankful to receive this position and I hope I can serve each one of you well!" Jinyoung clearly spoke, sending shivers down the members’ spine as the boy was usually quite playful.

"One more thing!" Mark mentioned, "The water polo team needs volunteers to help them when they're practicing and as our fellow water friends, it would be nice if we could help them out so please!"

The members groaned as they all rather practice, but Mark ignored their groaning and decided it was time to start swimming for the day. Suddenly all the worry and stress Mark had went away as he finally got to swim.

 

“Okay guys. We have to work hard this year! This is the year that the fencing team will shine no matter what weapon, so no slacking off!” lectured the fencing captain as he stood in front of the team. Jackson stood in the front and was quite nervous.

“Says the one who didn’t show up to regionals last year!” yelled one of the members, earning giggles from the others.

“I had a family emergency!” defended the captain who was quite flustered at his member’s outburst. The family emergency was a lie, but he could not afford to let the members know that. Jackson couldn’t help but laugh at how funny Jaebum looked, which caught the eye of the captain.

“Does anyone know who this guy is?” Jaebum pointed at the new student. Jackson froze as he wondered if the captain did know who he was and if he was going to be exposed the first day of school and disappoint everyone’s high expectations. Fortunately, the room was silent.

“This is our new team member!” announced Jaebum, “How about a quick introduction? Say your name, country, how many years you’ve been playing, and weapon of choice.”

Jackson nervously walked up and faced the members who were all looking at him with smiling faces. He could recognize some of them from his classes, but not all.

“My name is Jackson Wang. I’m from Hong Kong. I’ve been playing since I was 10 years old and I prefer using sabre.” Once he said sabre, the members began to “ooo,” while looking at Jaebum as they all knew that was Jaebum’s weapon of choice and he excelled at it.

“I use sabre too. How about a quick match with me then? Let us see and test out your skills,” Jaebum offered, trying his best to keep his composure. He tossed a spare sabre to Jackson. The boy barely caught it out of pure instinct, but his eyes widened and he couldn’t hold it stable as it shook in his hands. He quickly put it down before any of the members could notice.

“Maybe next time. I would rather learn the basics and rules of being here in this team. I wouldn’t want to do anything in the future that would offend anyone,” Jackson said politely, trying not tick off the captain, but he had already seen what he needed to see.

Jaebum agreed and began conditioning with the members, but Jackson, feeling sick to his stomach, asked if he could use the restroom. He rushed to one of the stalls and began throwing up at the thought of fencing again.

“I can’t even hold a sabre anymore. How am I gonna survive in this school?”


	2. Encounter

Youngjae fixed his uniform, making sure there were no creases as he waited outside the locker room closest to the fencing room. Knowing that his boyfriend is the captain this year, the boy assumed he would be the last to leave and was fine with waiting. Jaebum walked out after a good thirty minutes of waiting. He was still wearing his workout clothes and quite sweaty, which honestly made the boy look quite sexy in Youngjae’s eyes.

“Why are you here?” asked the captain, shocked to see his boyfriend waiting for him, “What if someone sees you and suspe--"

"Hardly anyone’s here and if they are, they’re hard at practice, especially the fall sports because local games are coming up. And besides we live in the same side of town anyway. Why are you so paranoid?" Youngjae pushed Jaebum to start walking.

"You know exactly why," Jaebum hissed.

Youngjae sighed and the two walked in silence. The president wanted to come out already so he can express his love in peace, but Jaebum was scared and as much as Youngjae did understand, it still frustrated him. A part of him felt like Jaebum wasn’t as in love with him as Youngjae was to come out.

"How was practice?" Youngjae quietly asked. The two were far enough from the school campus to walk closer, but they never held hands in public.

"It was great! I was worrying for nothing!" Jaebum laughed, smiling at his boyfriend.

"I have nothing to worry about," Jaebum thought to himself as he thought about Jackson's little incident.

_“I use sabre too. How about a quick match with me then? Let us see and test out your skills,” Jaebum offered, trying his best to keep his composure. He tossed a spare sabre to Jackson and the boy barely caught it. The captain noticed how Jackson's hands shook before putting the sabre down, even if it was only for a split second._

"I knew everything was going to be fine!" yelled Youngjae, holding Jaebum in his arms out of pure excitement.

"Youngjae..." the fencer quietly said while slowly pulling away.

"I'm sorry. I forgot. I was just excited for you," the boy pouted, "Well my house is right here, so I'll get going."

Youngjae darted away and into his house and Jaebum stood there in shock. They've had many arguments about coming out and showing affection in public before, but it still hurt Jaebum every time because he felt like there was a difference between what they wanted to do and what was best for them. He felt like the bad guy, but he hoped Youngjae understood that he wanted to stare at Youngjae like he was the only thing in this world that matters, hold him in his arms when he's excited, grab his hand whenever he wanted, and kiss him in any circumstance.

But he couldn't.

 

 

"Mark, I'm going home. Stay safe walking okay?" Jinyoung walked into the indoor swimming pool room fully dressed with his duffel hanging from his shoulder.

"Go. I'll swim another few laps before locking up," Mark shooed his new vice captain away.

"It's the only the first day and you're already working hard. Amazing."

Jinyoung walked out and Mark chuckled as his friend didn't realize how much of an escape swimming was for him. Mark only swam once throughout the whole break and it wasn't for recreational reasons. Being back in the water felt like paradise for the captain and swimming gave him so much energy. Mark quickly went back to swimming laps, trying out different techniques.

 

Jackson left right before Jaebum had locked up the room. The two didn't talk after their incident and Jackson liked it that way as he felt like captain didn't like him too much. He decided to wander around the hallways, looking around at the other facilities. He could hear the yelling and passion from the other teams that were still around.

"What did we tell you, Jackson?"

The boy looked around and saw no one, specifically not the owner of the voice he was looking for.

_It's all in my head. They're not here but back home in Hong Kong._

The fencer stopped and took a couple deep breaths before looking around again. He really did like how nice the school was.

"You fucker, you think you can just lash out at us like that? Let's teach him a lesson."

Jackson fell onto the floor, holding onto his stomach as he could actually feel each punch, each kick that hit his body not too long ago. It felt like it was happening at that moment and it was suffocating. Tears swelled up in his eyes and he tried his best not to scream as he had done other times.

"I can't do this. Not here, please," he thought to himself desperately.

He grabbed onto the nearby railing and could barely picked himself up. He winced in pain as he dragged himself to the last place he had been in the whole school, hoping there was a place for him to sit and regain his sanity.

As soon as he opened the door, the cool air hit his body and his pain suddenly went away. It was surprising to him as his breakdowns usually lasted longer. He decided to sit down at the stands as Jackson realized this may be a place where he can stay sane. The swimming pool.

But he wasn't a swimmer, in fact he didn't even know how to swim. He looked at his newly received gray tie from the fencing coach and sighed.

_"It's a pleasure to have you, Mr. Wang," said the coach as he held out his hand to shake._

_"I can say the same for you," Jackson reciprocated, shaking the coach's hand. He was hoping the man didn't know about his past._

_"Here. Take this now that you're officially in the JY fencing team," smiled the coach as he handed the gray tie to the boy._

Jackson looked at the pool and saw someone swimming by himself without stop. The way the water separated as he swam relaxed Jackson as he watched. There was something about the pool that calmed the new student down. His flashbacks weren't terrorizing and he could think about fencing without the need to throw up.

Mark stopped swimming to take a break and Jackson immediately looked the other way as he didn't want the swimmer to notice him staring. The swim captain noticed Jackson's presence almost right away and looked up at him.

The swimmer noticed the boy's still slightly pale face, but thought nothing of it. Instead, his eyes glanced toward his tie.

"Is that a gray tie? That means he's a fencer and Jaebum will probably have a hard time if he's any good," Mark thought to himself as he looked at the boy.

Mark got out of the pool and went straight to the locker room to change. Jackson realized that meant he was free to hang out at the pool alone and decided to walk down to the shallow side. He took off his shoes and socks and rolled up his pants. Sitting down got his butt wet, but it didn't mind him too much as he sunk his feet in, instantly cooling him down. He kicked his feet slightly, watching the waves he created move outwards.

He began to think about how much he probably missed out because of fencing. He didn't make many friends as he was constantly moved from place to place to learn from different coaches. Jackson didn't even get to try other sports, not even learn how to swim.

If I could've at least swam," he scorned to himself.

Jackson continued kicking his feet and thought about how everything was going back in Hong Kong, specifically his family, but that was a bad decision.

_"You better not mess up in South Korea as well. That's not the Wang way!"_

The pace in Jackson's kicking sped up as he was filled with anger once again, thinking about his aggressive and tiger-like father.

_"Maybe when you get your act together, then you can be my son again!"_

Jackson's feet made huge splashes, but he didn't care as he yelled, tired of toxic thoughts and memories. He didn't want to deal with them anymore.

"This is not the time to be playing. Go to bed,” a voice coldly hissed.

The fencer turned around only to see the swimmer he had watched in front of him holding keys. Jackson got up and quickly put on his socks and shoes, walking past Mark and to his dorm without a word.

After showering and dressing for bed, he looked at the ceiling as he laid on his bed, holding his jersey once again in his hand.

_That voice sounded familiar, but how?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, so like i said at the first chapter, this fic is already up on aff but I'm a bit conflicted at how I can't italicize, so whenever there's a flashback i'm just going to add an extra line of space so it's more clear. thanks for reading and giving kudos. :-))
> 
> UPDATE: I FIXED IT NO WORRIES


	3. Inside and Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I usually don't recommend BGM to my updates, but She's A Monster really works well with the update, so try listening to it while reading. c:

  
[BGM: She's A Monster - GOT7](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD71_iDCGLM)

 

 

_“Don’t get into other people’s affairs. Make friends, but don’t let them know your weaknesses; don’t let anyone know who you really are. You can’t trust anyone. They’ll use you and mistreat you especially with your background.”_

Those were the last pieces of advice Mark’s dad told him before he boarded the plane to South Korea five years ago and they still applied to how he lived life even to present day.

Mark knew exactly who to be and how to act through these words. With his looks, he could smile and charm people, but he had to distance himself from them at the same time. He didn’t tell anyone about his problems and his background, staying mysterious and looking as perfect as possible. Those were all easy things to do.

The hard one was interfering with other people’s affairs. Before it was easy for him as well as he just didn’t put too much thought into other people in general, but as time passed a need grew in his heart to do something to help people or at least listen to people’s problems. His heart and his brain were constantly fighting to listen or to leave. He promised his dad and his dad trusted him to move across the world for his passion, so Mark felt obligated to do as he was told.

 

It was especially hard during days like today.

 

“Fucking faggots!”

It has been a week since school started and Mark was walking down the hallway after lunch alone only to hear someone curse and several grunts shortly after in front of him. Once he turned the corner, he realized what it was.

“There are so many hot girls at this school, but you two decide to go for each other. Disgusting,” dissed Namjoon, the basketball captain, spitting at the two.

Him and his posse, so called Bangtan Boys, had pushed Bambam and Yugyeom onto the ground and were beating them up. The two were known throughout the school to being openly gay which caused heavy backlash towards the couple. Once Bangtan noticed Mark, they stopped and looked at him, worried the well regarded swim captain would do something.

_Dad told me to not get involved. I can’t, especially since it would be 1 vs. 7 as Bambam and Gyeom don’t look fit to fight._

Mark turned his head the other way and kept a straight face. He continued walking, turning up the volume of the headphones that hung around his neck. He was about to place them over his ears when he heard a voice.

“What are you guys doing?”

_Don’t look back, Mark. Don’t get caught up in this mess._

Mark kept walking, listening to the voice in his head, but he walked slowly, trying to pay attention without looking.

“Just messing with these two faggots,” chuckled Jimin as he walked toward the boy, “It doesn’t concern you, new kid, so fuck off.”

Mark stopped walking, trying to listen to the voice walk away but heard no footsteps.

“Yeah it does because that’s not right. They’re people too y’know!” defended the boy.

_Oh no. He’s going to get beat up._

Mark turned around and saw Jackson getting up close and personal with the basketball players. He was worried for the kid. The BTS clique was known to be the most violent even compared to the martial arts kids as the martial arts kids never used their sport violently.

“Are you one of them too? A disgusting piece of gay trash?”

“Does it matter if I am? All I want to do is be a good student and clean up the trash that is right in front of me. You guys,” Jackson took a clean jab at Namjoon. The captain stumbled back and his clique immediately caught him before getting ready to fight Jackson.

Mark clenched his fist wanting to join and help Jackson, but as usual he held back because of his dad.

“I suggest you all leave right now before the teachers come,” smugly said Youngjae as he walked towards the fight, “They’re coming right now because someone tipped them about commotion they heard around here.”

Everyone froze and BTS’s eyes looked toward their captain who slowly nodded. The group darted and Jackson brushed himself off, chuckling. Youngjae slowly approached him, glaring.

“I also suggest you don’t pull a stunt like that again. One incident like this can get you kicked out of here if the school board hears about it.” 

“But I was helping them!” Jackson protested, pointing at the two who were bruised and barely getting up, “They were in danger and someone had to stop those guys!”

“Bangtan’s parents all donate to the school and so do the parents of most of the homophobic groups! If you want to help, you call a teacher! Those people can ruin your life and tarnish your name from having any sort of athletic career!” Youngjae scolded as he was right in Jackson’s face, getting passionate about the matter.

_“You better not mess up in South Korea as well. That's not the Wang way!"_

“Okay, okay. I won’t do anything again. I’m sorry,” Jackson quietly said, walking away.

 

Youngjae walked towards the couple, but looked to the side only to see the silhouette of someone familiar.

_Mark? But he never gets involved in situations. Why was he there?_

 

_Stupid. Stupid me!_

Mark ran down the hallway, trying to get away.

_I should have just walked away. The me from the past would have walked away and not cared. I need to stay mysterious. I need to show that I don’t care about anyone!_

  


Sports period came along and Mark was able to get ahold of himself. He quickly changed into his trunks and looked at the signup list of swimmer helpers as Peniel needed people by the end of the week as local competitions were starting up.

There was only one name other than his, Jinyoung’s.

Mark harshly threw the clipboard on the floor. Luckily no one was in the room during his outburst. His fingers slid through his hair and he yelled.

_“Remember our deal.”_

“I shouldn’t have trusted anyone! Fuck!” Mark yelled as Peniel’s voice haunted his brain, “Dad was right. People will just use me despite the trust we had for each other.”

The captain looked at the time and realized he was running late. He quickly grabbed the clipboard and ran out to the pool, only to see the members fooling around.

“What the hell is this?” he sternly asked as he threw the clipboard on the floor again, catching the attention of all the members who grew silent, “Are none of you really going to help out the water polo members? Are you all that selfish?!”

Mark placed his hands on his hips and glared at the members who stayed quiet, looking around at one another to see who would say something. One of the underclassmen, Park Jaehyung, slowly walked up.

“Well, aren’t they being the selfish ones? Water polo isn’t our sport and they’re just asking us to serve them and waste our time. I didn’t see them helping us out last season. The only reason why they got help last year was because the seniors were all close and wanted to hang out more.”

The members agreed and Mark felt even more irritated knowing it was true. He didn’t want to yell at the members but he couldn’t afford to break the deal at the same time. Jinyoung stood next to Mark and patted his back.

“How about this?” the vice captain offered, “If all of you beat us at a relay race, you guys don’t have to volunteer. The ten of you will all swim one lap; Mark and I will swim five each.”

Jinyoung smiled at Mark who just looked at him as if he was crazy. It was like Jinyoung was asking to lose.

“Call,” agreed Jaehyung, smirking at the two, “Piece of cake.”

“Okay, let's start practice!” Mark clapped his hands to get the team back on track.

 

He had a bad feeling about this.

 

Jackson had been coming to the pool after practice every day to clear his head. The team was just conditioning at the moment so the new kid wasn’t stressed over fencing, but he still felt uneasy.

The boy often sat in the stands and watched as people slowly started leaving until the captain was all alone. Jackson felt curious about the captain, especially seeing how much effort he put into the sport. There was something different about his swimming today; Jackson noticed. It was slower.

Mark would notice Jackson’s presence every time. Usually he wouldn’t mind, but with all the stress he had over Peniel, the new kid annoyed Mark despite how he never bothered him. When the captain swam, his mind felt clear, but for the first time in a long time, he felt stressed. The boy got out of the water only to see Jackson sitting at the bench right near the pool and not up in the stands as usual.

“Why do you keep coming here? You’re a fencer, not a swimmer,” Mark said emotionlessly as he grabbed his towel on the side and started drying his hair.

Jackson, who was in a daze, was shocked to hear the boy talk to him. Once the question sunk in his head, he realized that he wasn’t sure why he kept coming anyway as he knew the pool wouldn’t fix his trauma, but he came anyway.

“I don’t know. I just do. Funny, isn’t it?” Jackson awkwardly laughed.

Mark rolled his eyes and just walked away to the locker room.

“More like pitiful,” Mark dissed in English as he passed by Jackson.

Jackson’s eyes suddenly went wide as he realized that he was the guy who dissed him on the first day of school. The voice he was looking for.

“You, I understood that!” Jackson yelled in English, standing up and pointing.

Mark stopped in his tracks and mentally cursed at himself for getting caught. He was sure most people from Hong Kong didn’t speak English, but he realized the new kid was an exception.

“What’s your name? My name is Jackson Wang,” yelled at the swimmer who was about 15 feet away from him.

“Mark. Mark Tuan,” the captain looked off to the side before walking into the locker room.

Jackson laughed to himself while walking out of the pool area as he finally got to learn the swimmer’s name and he happened to be the English speaker as well. Despite the boy’s cold attitude toward him, Jackson couldn’t help but want to at least try to be friends with Mark, but only time could tell.

 

The next day, Mark was very moody throughout his morning classes. He went from easily angered to sensitive and emotional to jittery throughout every class because of what he was going to do at lunch. He was going to talk to the water polo captain and try to negotiate.

He had no appetite for lunch so as soon as the bell rang he went to the bathroom and calmed down, mentally checking himself as well to make sure he knows exactly what to say and not stutter.

Mark was absolutely nervous.

And this is the person who has lived alone for five years, gone to other countries alone holding great responsibility, and is swim captain for his second year. This was the person was nervous. Amazing.  

Mark splashed water on his face and quickly dried it with a paper towel. He closed eyes and took a deep breath in and out, thinking about the persona he was supposed to envelope. The mysterious, charismatic and brave Mark, not the scared little Mark deep inside of him.

“I need to talk to you,” dryly demanded Mark as he stood right in front of Peniel, who was eating lunch at his table with his water polo friends, BtoB. Peniel looked up at the boy and laughed.

“Whatever you have to say, you can say in front of them,” Peniel cooed with spite in his tone at the same time, pointing at his friends who all just smiled at Mark.

“Peniel-sshi!” Mark exasperated, leading the water polo captain to widen his eyes as the boy hadn’t called used “-sshi” with his name in a long time.

“What? Say it,” Peniel smiled, acting like he didn’t have a clue to the swimmer’s agony.

“You promised me you wouldn’t tell anyone. Why can’t you at least keep your promise?” Mark huffed, trying his best not to tear up.

“Well, that was back then and blackmailing you to get what we need is best of the water polo team. You know, one of the best in the school,” Peniel retorted confidently.

He wasn’t wrong. The water polo team at JY Pro-sports Academy was one of the top tier teams in their division and people from all over the world tried to get into the sports high school because of it. The program was well known along with fencing, taekwondo, and archery, but swimming was coming along there as well.

“I can’t believe you. You’re such a fucking asshole,” Mark hissed, staring straight into the captain’s eyes.

“Right back at you, hun,” Peniel chucked, smiling smugly at Mark before the swimmer turned away to leave.

“Good luck on your contest next week! I’ll be rooting for you!” Peniel yelled across the room, laughing loudly right after with Btob. Mark tried his best to hold back his tears as he couldn’t believe Peniel’s words.

_I shouldn’t have trusted you, you fucking piece of garbage._

 

The day passed by and it was night again. Jackson sat in the stands as usual and watched Mark swim once again. The new kid still sat alone during lunch, but it was the table right next to Btob, so he had heard the whole dispute between the two captains and was quite worried. Usually, Mark took breaks in between laps, but the swimmer didn’t take any breaks and just kept practicing continuously.

There was a lot on Mark’s mind and he wanted to clear it all off while practicing for the contest between the swim members and him and Jinyoung. He had to win; he couldn’t let anyone know his secret.

_We were perfect; what happened?_

Peniel and Mark were seen as the perfect duo last year as they were both in the underwater sports and captains despite being juniors. They were both well respected and mysterious to the rest of the student population and also had a foreigner charm as they came from the States and knew how to speak English. The two didn’t hang out as much as they both had their respective groups, but they had an unknown link to each other.

They were dating.

The two started at the end of their sophomore year once they were announced to be captain. Being in the underwater sports, they felt like it was only necessary to become acquainted to each other as they shared a locker room and also pools every now and then if necessary. Peniel contacted Mark first and asked if the two could meet for a cup of coffee and it started from there.

_“Hey. I’m glad you could make it!” Peniel smiled as he saw Mark walk into the coffee shop. Mark saw him right away and sat down as Peniel already ordered for him._

_Already then was when Mark fell for Peniel’s innocent, puppy-like smile as it warmed his heart._

_“Yeah, sure,” Mark awkwardly replied, “So, what do you want to talk about?”_

_“Anything, really. The last water polo and swimming captains, Yoon Doojoon and Ok Taecyeon, were close friends so I figured we should be well acquainted as well. Is that okay with you?”_

_“Yeah, sure,” Mark said, staring down at his drink._

_Mark wasn’t really interested in getting to know the new water polo captain at first as he was still strict to what his father said, so he let Peniel ramble on and on about water polo. He didn’t care that the boy was annoyed that the juniors were upset over him being the captain or how his friends are being unsupportive. Mark already had enough on his plate; he didn’t need to worry about other people’s problems as well. That was his justification._

_“You don’t talk much, do you?” Peniel chuckled, “It’s okay. I don’t mind silence as long as I’m around you.”_

_The two exchanged numbers after that meeting and they talked often. Well, it was mainly Peniel sending long blocks of texts and Mark following with a few words. For some reason, it was hard to ignore Peniel, especially when it came to talking in English. Mark assumed it was probably because it made him feel closer to home, which the boy missed dearly. Slowly but surely, Peniel sparked Mark’s interest despite his father’s words and Mark tried to not act so interested, but it was hard. He decided not to care about his dad’s advice and become invested into Peniel and vice versa. Peniel learned a lot about Mark especially secrets that no one knew due to the walls he built around his heart. Mark also loved to listen to Peniel and learn about him and his struggles as it became fascinating and he desired to help the boy the best he could._

_“I like you, a lot. Not in just a friend way, but romantically,” confessed Peniel._

_The two were walking home after buying new sports attire and Mark’s eyes widened and he turned to his friend who just smiled._

_“I don’t know if you like me back, but if you do I know it’s gonna be hard knowing the environment of JY, but I’m okay with that as long as I’m with you,” Peniel said as he cupped his hand to Mark’s cheek, who blushed furiously._

_“I like you too,” Mark confessed shyly, his heart beating like crazy._

_Peniel was perfect in Mark’s eyes. The boy was actually bisexual and usually went for girls, but prefered muscles on boys, so seeing muscular girls turned him off. Peniel had beautiful well defined muscles from being an amazing water polo player. He was very patient and loving towards Mark and he was understanding as well. But his smile, Mark could talk about the boy’s smile for days._

_He just didn’t understand how it all went wrong._

_The honeymoon period ended after their first six months of dating and the fights became more frequent and they had lost the spark in their relationship. They fought over petty things but Mark liked to believe that they stayed together because they still loved and cared for each other. That’s what kept their relationship going, right?_

_That was until Mark saw Peniel sticking his tongue down the throat of one of the younger varsity water polo players, Yook Sungjae._

_It was a Friday night and Mark didn’t have any plans as he decided to take a rest day after practicing hard for local competitions that were coming up. He decided to surprise his boyfriend by buying his favorite, red bean goldfish bread, since the water polo team finished their season strongly, meaning Peniel didn’t have to be on a strict diet. Mark had a spare key to Peniel’s house as he was told he was always welcome._

_But not this time._

_Mark opened the door and went straight into the kitchen to put all the bread on a plate. He smiled and was excited to see his boyfriend’s reaction as he went up the stairs._

_“Hun! I bought yo--”_

_Mark dropped the plate on the floor as he saw Peniel pinning Yook Sungjae on his bed. The two looked at him in shock as they obviously didn’t expect to see Mark there. Mark ran out with tears in his eyes, his heart aching and he realized he knew he should have listened to his dad and kept his distance._

_The worst part was that Peniel didn’t even try to stop him. The one that made him human; the one broke down the walls in Mark’s heart and turned him into a person that started to care about other people and listen to their problems was the one who threw him away like an overused toy._

The swimmer stopped in the middle of the pool and yelled as he hit the water, shocking Jackson who was in a daze as usual. The fencer immediately got up and looked to see why Mark was causing such a commotion.

_‘Right back at you, hun?’ So, I’m the asshole as well? I didn’t cheat like you did. The only thing I ever did wrong was love you._

Mark floated in the middle of the pool for a while, taking deep breaths and trying to relax. He decided it was time to go home, so he just floated on his back and slowly back stroked his way to the end of the pool. By the time he got there, he saw Jackson looking at him right at the edge of the pool and not at his usual bench.

“Are you okay?” Jackson worried as soon as Mark got out.

For a split second, there was something about Jackson, possibly his tone, that made Mark feel like he could trust the boy, but soonly he remembered how he got in his situation and shook off his feeling. He couldn’t afford to trust anyone ever again; that’s what he believed.

“I’m fine,” Mark said coldly, not wanting to get deep into the conversation.

“I know we don’t really know each other, but if you ever need anyone to talk to, you can always talk to me,” Jackson encouraged, smiling at Mark who only looked at him with disgust.

“And why should I trust you?! I don’t trust the people around me, nonetheless a complete stranger,” Mark harshly replied as he walked away. Jackson stood up and called out to him like he did the day before.

“If you’re upset because of that Peniel guy or whatever his name is, then fuck him. I overheard your conversation with him during lunch and he sounded like a complete jerk. He’s not worth your time nor energy,” Jackson tried to sympathize and give advice as he loved to do, but it was hard when he hardly knew the situation.

Mark stopped and clenched his fist. He turned to the side to retort back at Jackson, not wanting to look at him at the same time.

“Shut the fuck up. You don’t know anything.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I usually do not update this fast, but once this fic on AO3 catches up with the one AFF, I'll be updating them at the same time. If any of you are impatient and want to read the other chapters, they are up on AFF with the same title. c:


	4. Secrets

 

“Okay, so Eric and Kevin are the ones who live right from my room and Bambam and Henry are the ones on the left,” Jackson explained to himself as he jumped onto his bed.

It was the weekend and the new student decided it was about time to formally introduce himself and get to know the other athletes in the dorm. The other free days he’s had he spent them relaxing or touring places in Seoul. He went to each room, introduced himself, and gave a bottle of vitamins to the two living inside. The four living next to him chatted with him a bit and he learned that Eric and Henry are archers, Kevin is in taekwondo and Bambam plays soccer. All of them spoke English except for Bambam, but he was learning, which was nice.

“Delivery for Jackson Wang,” the teacher knocked on the boy’s door.

“Coming!” Jackson ran to the door. He opened it and saw his teacher holding a big and long package.

“Sign here and take this."

Jackson did as he was told. The teacher left shortly after and Jackson was nervous to open it as he knew it was probably from his parents, specifically his dad. He slowly ripped off the tape and whatever was inside was covered in bubble wrap, Jackson’s absolute favorite.

Jackson unravelled the packaging only to reveal a sabre, not just any sabre but _his_ sabre. It was custom made to perfectly fit his hand and had a stainless steel and still polished blade and a handle painted a beautiful gold, engraved on it said J.Wang: HK. His most beautiful and prized possession was finally with him.

And he couldn’t even hold it.

He gazed at it in awe and smiled brightly as this motivated him to try to get better mentally and physically. He reached out his hand to hold it but it consistently shook.

“Is that your sabre?” asked Bambam as he walked into Jackson’s room.

The elder was startled and quickly turned the sabre so the engraving wasn’t showing and closed the box. He smiled awkwardly at his newly made friend who laughed.

“C’mon let me just take a peek at it, please?” begged Bambam, pouting at Jackson.

_He can’t know where I came from._

“Okay, but no touching. It’s very important to me,” ruled the fencer as he opened the box.

Bambam looked at the sabre and couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. He didn’t even remember Jaebum’s being as gorgeous. He noticed a pink letter sticking out from the side and grabbed it.

“What’s this? A letter from your family? What does it say?” Bambam tried opening it, only for Jackson to snatch it out of his hands.

“You.... should go now,” Jackson said coldly, only for the soccer player to apologize for being too pushy and leave.

The fencer locked his room and opened the letter which was thankfully in Mandarin and not English or Korean. Once he read it, however, his mood dropped and he threw the letter away. He quickly cleaned up and put his sabre in his closet and bubble wrap beside his bed.

“I need some air,” he said to himself as he walked out of the dorm, “Let’s get that new phone!”

Bambam immediately went into Jackson’s room which was surprisingly unlocked as soon as he saw him leave the dorm and looked around. He was ordered by Jinyoung to find out more about Jackson and he was going to do just that.

_The new kid who was so happy and chipper this morning suddenly became cold over that pink letter. Why was that?_

Bambam searched for the letter and found it in the trash. He praised himself and opened it up, only to find it in a language he couldn’t understand, Mandarin. He took pictures of it and hoped someone could translate.

_“They’re people too y’know!” defended Jackson._

Jackson’s protecting voice rang in Bambam’s head and he quickly shook it off as he remembered that he was doing this for his good friend Jinyoung. He quickly ran out only to bump into his boyfriend who wanted to surprise him and take him out on a date.

“Why are you coming from there? Isn’t that Jackson’s room?” Yugyeom asked, making Bambam nervous.

“Let’s go to my room first. Henry went out anyway,” Bambam suggested, dragging his boyfriend into his room. He sat Yugyeom on his bed and smiled awkwardly.

“Well?” Yugyeom beckoned.

“Jinyoung sunbae asked me to find more information on Jackson so I went to snoop in his room to find some dirt!” confessed Bambam, only for Yugyeom to get even more upset.

“How long are you going to be acting like that guy’s toy?!” Yugyeom barked, while Bambam just winced.

“I’m just helping him out!” Bambam protested, “He’s my friend!”

Yugyeom scoffed in disbelief.

“Friend?! Jinyoung sunbae doesn’t see you as a friend. The guy has asked you for more than enough favors, some where you had to compensate your own morals! Tell me babe. What has he done for you? What favors have you asked him to do?!” roared Yugyeom as he hated to see his boyfriend act like such a pushover.

“Well, I…” Bambam thought for a moment, “Friendships aren’t about giving and taking, okay? But one day he will help me too!”

“Really? When we came out, how many times did we get beat up by Bangtan and the others? How many times we were we treated unfairly? That sunbae did nothing about any of it! I still remember the first time you called out to him and he turned the other way!” 

“He had something urgent to take care of! He told me!” 

“Bullshit. He never cared about you. It’s fucking hilarious because the one you’re snooping on for him, Jackson Wang, is the one who actually defended us and was willing to fight. You saw it with your own eyes and yet you’re doing this?!”

Bambam looked at the ground in silence, but Yugyeom still decided to continue.

“You know, I wanted to surprise you and go out on a fun little date today, but my mood is spoiled. I’m going home,” Yugyeom whispered scornfully.

“Wait, babe,” Bambam begged, grabbing onto his boyfriend’s wrist, “I’m sorry.”

“Think about what I said, Bammy,” Yugyeom said as he brushed off Bambam’s hold and left the dorm.

“I’m sorry, Gyeom. I have to do this,” Bambam said all alone in his dorm as he sent the pictures to Jinyoung.

 

**Lacky Bambam, 10:50am**

Here’s something you would enjoy looking at. I’d ask Henry to translate, but he’s currently upset at me.

 

**Jinyoung Sunbae, 10:52am**

Good job. I’ll ask Mark to translate.

 

**Lacky Bambam, 10:53am**

When am I gonna stop having to do these favors for you? Yugyeom is getting upset.

 

**Jinyoung Sunbae, 10:54am**

Hmmm… when I graduate and go to my dream college?

Besides, it’s better for him to be mad at you over these favors than what you’re keeping from him. Am I right?

 

Bambam threw his phone across the room in anger. He absolutely hated Park Jinyoung.

 

Mark paced back and forth in his room. He didn’t say a word, but his mind was running all over and he didn’t know what to do.

_“I know we don’t really know each other, but if you ever need anyone to talk to, you can always talk to me._

_“If you’re upset because of that Peniel guy or whatever his name is, then fuck him. I overheard your conversation with him during lunch and he sounded like a complete jerk. He’s not worth your time nor energy.”_

Jackson’s voice rang through his mind and Mark didn’t know how to feel. He knew deep inside that the fencer was right and Peniel wasn’t worth his time, but the fact that Jackson was trying to be all nice and caring when they just met made him feel so… so…

He couldn’t put his word to it.

Sure, there were girls that fawned over Mark’s existence and he even had a small fanclub that appeared during swim meets and they also were nice and caring to him despite not knowing Mark’s personality. It was the same thing, right? But it didn’t feel like the same thing no matter how much he reasoned.

Mark thought about his friends: Jinyoung, Jaebum and Youngjae. The three of them have shown him care and were nice to him too. They tried to get personal with Mark and learn more about him, but Mark kept them a safe distance from his heart. None of them knew his secrets and he didn’t feel compelled to them anything either. He enjoyed their presence though, a lot. If he didn’t, Mark wouldn’t have changed the way he acted towards them anyway since he had to be the “perfect” guy who everyone liked.

Even Peniel felt like a different story as Mark didn’t feel any butterflies thinking about Jackson. His heart didn’t race and his cheeks didn’t blush. He didn’t feel a connection either. When he looked at Jackson, he never felt more straight because there was just no spark between them.

_What is this feeling?_

Mark could hear the buzzing coming from his phone on vibrate and he frantically searched for it. He found it all the way under his bed and answered it, not checking who was calling.

“Mark."

“Dad? What is it?” Mark bit his fingertips as he thought about all the things he’s done that might’ve gotten him in trouble by his father.

“Nothing, just how are you my wonderful eldest son? It’s been a while,” the father asked concerningly, earning a dry laugh from his son.

“Cut the crap. You never ask me stuff like this. You only tell me what to do and how to act and all these rules, but nothing like this,” Mark bluntly said, only for his father to obnoxiously laugh.

“You know me so well,” his father laughed before getting serious, “I need you to go to China this week. There’s something important happening there and I need you to represent me.”

“The whole week?” asked Mark cautiously.

“Yes. You’ve skipped school before for this stuff and I heard you have a vice-captain, so your precious swim team will be fine as well,” mentioned his father.

“Still keeping tabs on me, aren’t you? Well, sorry, but I can’t. I have something very important happening at school this week that I can’t miss,” Mark said thinking about the contest,  “Maybe next week I can go, or--”

“Don’t forget the reason why I let you go to South Korea and do all this useless shit, Mark! You have to go. I’m ordering you as your father to go,” Mr. Tuan hissed.

“Yeah, for media play, right? All for you and your greed?” Mark scoffed, “Not for your own son’s personal enjoyment or passion for something he’s good at?! I’m almost 18, father, then you can’t tell me what the fuck to do. Why don’t you get used to it and go to China your damn self if it’s so important!”

Mark hung up and threw his phone on the floor in anger. He looked at the paper’s his father had sent him to look at a week ago on his desk and he cleared his desk, throwing everything on the floor. He felt more like a pet than a son.

The swimmer grabbed his duffel bag and immediately headed to the school to take another few laps to clear out his head.

 

“Hey, let’s go out today! I bought new disguises for us so we can cuddle up!” Youngjae offered as he was walking to Jaebum’s house holding a bag of tacky disguises. He even bought a fake wig for himself so strangers wouldn’t make uncomfortable stares.

“Sorry, babe. I… I’m busy. I got to run a bunch of errands for my mother,” Jaebum said cautiously.

Youngjae stood in front of Jaebum’s house and could easily see his boyfriend sitting at his desk through the window. He chuckled and decided not to press him.

“Oh, really. Okay. I’ll just see you on Monday then! I’m hanging up,” Youngjae fakely cheered, putting on a straight face after as he walked home.

_I guess Jaebum has his own secrets too._

Youngjae went home and changed his clothes, wearing his signature floppy hat as he headed towards the heart of the city.

 

Jaebum put down his phone and sighed. He hated lying to his boyfriend, but he had to get to the bottom of this. The boy sat in front of his laptop and searched up everything on Jackson Wang, but there was hardly anything. A couple videos of him fencing, but nothing he wanted.

Nothing that explained why the national Hong Kong fencer Jackson Wang was in Seoul, South Korea attending JY Pro.

Jaebum watched the videos of the Hong Kong fencer and couldn’t believe the technique he possessed. The boy whose hand shook while holding a sabre was handling it so gracefully in the video.

“Only one great fencer can be at this school and I’ll make sure that it’s me,” Jaebum whispered to himself, “This is for you, hyung.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep forgetting to update this... I'm sorry. LOL


	5. Spill It

[BGM: Fly - GOT7](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4vFviZ4qw0)

 

Tuesday came along faster than expected.

Mark was jittery in his seat in his last and most hated class, English Literature. He didn’t even want to be in the class, but his father ordered him to as it would be good for later on. Mark saw it as complete bullshit, but it wasn’t like the work and the grading were fairly hard. The class barely reached enough signups every year and the teacher was beyond boring as it was obvious he didn’t care about the subject much either. Most people ended up falling asleep anyhow, including Mark usually, which is why he often was the last one in the locker room. Walking quickly after a nice afternoon nap was not pleasant, so he took his time. He was sure one of these days he was going to sleep through the bell and forget about swim practice.

But not today.

The swimmer constantly kept his eye on the clock and he was practically bouncing out of his seat with his shaky legs that were making quite a ruckus, getting glares from those sleeping next to him trying to nap. He awkwardly smiled back and mouthed “sorry” as they turned the other way, putting earphones in their ears.

“Mark, are you okay?” asked the teacher as his eyes pulled away from the book they were reading.

Embarrassed enough, Mark shook his head and tried his best to calm down, which was a waste as the bell rang shortly after. The boy grabbed his backpack that hung on his chair and slung it over his shoulder before running out to practice, ignoring his teacher’s announcement about homework. He hardly did the work in general, but he could find out online if anything, who cares.

Everyone was shocked to see Mark running around the halls as the swimmer never moved at such a rate. He often walked slow and cool, enough for girls to gaze at his good looks, not intentional however, he actually kinda hated the attention. His territory was the water, not the land. The captain ignored all the stares and just tried to get to the locker room as fast as he could. Yes, it may be a waste of energy as he had the contest to worry about, but they still had a full hour and a half of practice before it and Mark wanted to work the swimmers off as hard as he could before then.

He also was just rushing because he was nervous.

His heart was at an unease due to Peniel telling everyone what Mark had been hiding if he lost the contest. It wasn’t like his secret was a big deal, well in his eyes it wasn’t. He just didn’t want people to know and he was scared of what people would think or how they would treat him. He wanted to only be known about what he excelled at, swimming, and nothing else. Usually, Mark was the type who didn’t care about other people in general, but this was something that may affect his comfort zone and he was nowhere near enthusiastic about that.

" _The swimmers better help us out again during this season when the school year starts up again,” Peniel demanded as they walked out of the yearly team captain conference. It was nothing new for the two as they both went the year prior._

_Mark hadn’t spoken to the boy since he caught him cheating unless he had to and when he did, it was often short and to the point. The swimmer didn’t want to have any lingering feelings and Peniel respected that, surprisingly, and kept his distance from Mark as well, usually._

_“Why should we? You guys don’t really need us. All we do is clean up after your damn stuff, fetch the ball, and occasionally swim for other petty needs,” Mark scoffed as he knew all too well from his experience last year. He tried to walk away from the boy only for Peniel to grab onto his shoulder and pull him back._

_"I wa_ _nted to play nice, but I guess we’re gonna have to make a deal,” chuckled Peniel as he stared into the other’s eyes._

_“I don’t make deals with assholes,” Mark gritted through his teeth as he walked away, thinking he had barely escaped until he heard Peniel yell._

_“Then I’ll tell your burning secret,” Peniel shouted across the room, getting curious stares from those around him, “You know, the one that absolutely no one knows about you.”_

_Mark’s eyes widened and he quickly walked back and pushed Peniel onto a nearby wall and glared at him with tears watering up in his eyes._

_“What did you say?” he rhetorically asked, “You’ll tell the secret you promised me you wouldn’t tell anyone? How low will you fucking go?”_

_“Anything for the team. You now know the conditions of our deal. If the swim team helps us out, I won’t tell anyone your secret. I have nothing else to left to say,” Peniel said triumphantly, walking away right after._

_“God damnit.”_

Mark went inside the locker room and saw a bunch of half naked guys still changing, which was a bit unfamiliar to him as he usually arrived when no one was inside and was the last one to leave the pool as well. He quickly went to his locker, which was, unfortunately, right next to Peniel’s as the captains were given the largest lockers. His ex-boyfriend wasn’t at his locker, fortunately, but not wanting to make awkward eye contact if he comes along, Mark just looked straight ahead and undressed, which he habitually did at a slow pace. In the meantime, he listened to the conversations of the others around him as he did so. Some talked about the contest and what they think will happen while others talked about the usual gossip going around school; it wasn’t too appealing to him, learning about who was with who and who did what that was so scandalous as he was trying to be the way he was before and not care, but some of gossip was so ridiculous he couldn’t help but chuckle to himself.

Mark was folding his shirt as he liked to keep his locker organized before undressing the bottom half. He placed his hands on his belt buckle to loosen it until someone’s arms went around him and placed their hands on top of his. Their chest was heavily against Mark’s and the swimmer could feel the other’s heartbeat and smell him as well. The person didn’t even have to speak before he knew it was his ex.

“I missed this because god, you look so fucking hot without a shirt,” Peniel growled into Mark’s ear, nibbling on it slightly, “Good luck today, _hun._ ”

Peniel released his hold on Mark and walked to the water polo pool with a cocky sway to his hips that Mark couldn’t help but watch. Once the water polo player walked out, Mark immediately took a deep breath and tried to get himself together. Yes, Mark still considered Peniel one of the biggest assholes he has met, but he was still quite charming.

Mark looked around and noticed that almost everyone was done changing and he realized there was no point in even rushing to the locker room if he was going to be the last one anyway. He quickly changed into his swim trunks and walked out to the pool to start the first hour and a half of practice for the day.

  


“Can we start using weapons now?” asked Jaebum as he was in the fencing room with just him and their coach.

Jackson was usually one of the first people who finished changing into sports clothes as his class was right next to the room and he didn’t have anyone to really talk to either. He decided not to bother his captain and coach and just casually eavesdrop instead.

“Jaebum, you know the rule. We don’t start using weapons for the first month. Conditioning is important. You have to have full control of your body before you can control a weapon,” the coach lectured.

“We’re all beyond capable and you know that. Come on, coach,” begged the captain, peaking the man’s curiosity.

“Rules and rules, especially when it comes from the principal. Why are you asking this when you know there’s no exceptions?” he tilted his head at Jaebum.

“Because of… you know,” Jaebum coughed, “You know…”

_You know? What could that be about?_

Jackson came closer, trying to listen in, but only to be disrupted by a loud and obnoxious group of fencers walking out of the locker room. Their name was Up10tion or something like that; Jackson wasn’t too sure. He heard they were crazy good fencers for sophomores, but since they were young they were nowhere near mature enough to be taken seriously outside of matches.

“Jackson sunbae, what are you doing?” loudly asked one of them, shocking Jaebum as he had heard just before he was about to explain.

“Nothing, nothing,” Jackson shooed him away. The boy just shrugged his shoulders and decided to let it go, playing along again with his friends.

After the group passed by, Jaebum, out of curiosity, walked to where he heard Jackson’s voice and saw no one there. He felt very uneasy about the boy possibly listening in on his conversation with the coach. It made Jaebum feel like Jackson was planning something.

Even if it actually was not the case.

The captain decided to let it go and walk back to the fencing room. Once Jackson saw that the coast was clear, he moved out of the small corner and walked to practice, hoping not to get yelled at by Jaebum. He didn’t want to be on high alert, but Jackson realized that eavesdropping was a careless mistake.

“Alright. Who’s ready for another hardcore workout?” Jaebum put on a bright smile after they had ran two laps around the room. The fencers to groan in agony, while Jackson just kept quiet as he didn’t mind too much.

“Why are you looking so smug, Jackson-sshi?” the captain asked with a bit of spite to his voice that only Jackson was able to detect, “Do you need an even harder workout?”

Eyes turned towards Jackson and the boy felt slightly embarrassed with all this attention. He didn’t want to talk back and get in even worse terms with the captain, but he also didn’t want to do a farfetched task that Jaebum came up with at the spur of the moment. It was just a bad mistake that came to haunt him.

“No, I don’t,” Jackson quietly stated.

Jaebum laughed at how nervous the boy looked. He could feel the power he had through his very words and it felt great. He was going to be the star; he could feel it.

_Jackson Wang, you are nothing._

“Too bad. You’re going to have to take all the new weapons that we received from our new sponsor from the office and take them up to the equipment room. I suggest you go now,” Jaebum ordered with a smile.

Jackson stood there for a while in shock before the other fencers started whispering for him to go already. The boy took a deep breath and started walking but he could hear the others complaining to the captain that Jackson got an easy task, but Jaebum just chuckled and told them to shut up and get out the weights.

_Not easy at all if I’m right about him._

The boy walked all the way down to the office in worry. His mind pondered over his disability and if he could even complete what Jaebum had asked him to do. He was sure he could hold the equipment if they were in boxes so it wouldn’t be such a hard task, right?

“Jackson! What do you need?” asked Ms. Shin, the secretary, brightly as she stood up to greet him from her desk.

“I was told to pick up the new sabres by my captain,” Jackson deadpanned, ignoring all of the office ladies’ stares as they all knew exactly who Jackson was and came from.

“Ah yes, they are with the principal. You can just walk into his office; he’s not busy,” she directed as she pointed to where the room was.  

Jackson thanked the lady and walked towards the principal’s office. He stood at the door and took a deep breath, nervous to see the fencing legend that he had only briefly talked to on the first day of school. Hesitant at first, he knocked on the door only to hear a faint “come in.” He opened the door only to see Mr. Park holding a sabre and playing around with it, probably one of the new ones.

“Jackson! I wasn’t expecting you. Close the door and sit down!” Park Jinyoung greeted happily. Jackson closed the door, but remained standing.

“Why are you here? C’mon sit down and stay awhile,” the principal urged as he noticed the boy was still standing awkwardly.

“Jaebum told me to grab the sabres and bring them to the equipment room. I should probably ge--”

“Do you really think you can take them up in your condition?” asked the principal staring straight at Jackson, “Can you even hold them?”

“You… know?” Jackson sputtered as he was absolutely shocked since he was convinced the man didn’t know.

“Your father told me. Sit down. Let’s talk. I’ll bring them up to the equipment room myself later,” Mr. Park ordered, waving Jackson to the seat with the sabre. Jackson obeyed automatically in order to get the information he wanted. .

“What did he tell you? When?” Jackson asked, leaning forward.

_“Jackson Wang. The Hong Kong fencer? Why is enrolled here when he has his team?” asked Park Jinyoung to the secretary._

_Before every school year, the principal always did a background check on the new students. He put a lot of time and effort into the school, so he couldn’t afford to have kids that have a criminal record or horrible posts on social media because even if they had the talent, they would not survive and the school would be blamed. Most of the time, they were all fine, but Jackson’s name stood out to him_

_“I don’t know. He was enrolled just yesterday too by his father. The admissions officers accepted him immediately after seeing his background,” Ms. Shin replied._

_“Give me his father’s number. I need to have a word with him.”_

“Your father told me when he enrolled you here. He said that you have a problem and showed me video of you not being able to hold your weapon,” Jackson face palmed in embarrassment and the principal just chuckled, “He asked us to fix you.  It’s obvious that we can’t really do that, but he didn’t listen. All of a sudden, we got these boxes over the weekend with a note saying ‘maybe this will give you more of an incentive’ and I can’t just return them, so I had to accept.”

 _So, he sent my weapon along with these for the team. That makes more sense as he would never just randomly send me something, even something as important as my sabre._  

“If you knew, why didn’t you say anything?” The boy was curious to the intentions behind the mysterious legend.

“It’s obvious that you didn’t want anyone knowing you got kicked out of the national team so I just went along with it,” Mr. Park explained as he put the sabre back in one of the boxes. The boy stayed quiet for a while before speaking once again.

“What if I am not better in time? Won’t my father get upset?” Jackson pondered.

“I warned him that I might not be able to do anything,” the principal squatted next to Jackson and looked at him, “I’m only buying you time, so try your best to get better. You have such a passion for fencing. I know you can do it.”

Park Jinyoung ruffled Jackson’s hair and smiled at him, only for the boy to awkwardly smile back. The two began talking about how Jackson was liking the school and so forth, but the fencer just gave vague answers as he was still trying to settle in and make acquaintances. Once they finished talking after a long time, Jackson left, entrusting the principal to finish his task.

  


The bell rang and everyone in the swim team knew what that meant.

The school mandatory hour and a half of practice was done and it was time for the contest. The twelve of them got out of the water and took a five minute break to get ready. The atmosphere was tense and no one was talking louder than a whisper. Jinyoung massaged the captain’s shoulders, which were quite tense, and whispered words of encouragement.

“Shall we get started?” the coach asked as the five short minutes were over.

The captain nodded his head and the team was given the rules and regulations once again. The members lined up and it was Dowoon and Jinyoung side by side, waiting for the whistle and ready to jump into the pool. Mark saw right through their strategy to have the slowest members go first, making the two feel like they have an advantage, only for them to catch up. He thought it was cute of them.

Mark kept his eyes on Jinyoung and remembered why he picked the boy to be his vice-captain. Not just because they were friends, but because the boy was a talented swimmer and won several competitions to show it. He had beautiful strokes and amazing stamina, so Mark trusted Jinyoung to do well enough to win the contest.

But then Jinyoung slowed down.

It was into the fourth lap and it wasn’t too big of a speed drop, but Mark could notice it right away as he knew how great his friend’s potential was and it was more than that. The captain knew the amount of laps might be the problem, but the boy had enough stamina and Mark knew that.

_C’mon Jinyoung. I believe in you._

Mark’s hands balled up into fists in pure frustration as he could see the other team slowly catching up and trying to close the gap between them.  

And it wasn’t even the top swimmers just yet.

At Jinyoung’s fifth lap, Mark jumped into the water, ready for the boy to tap him. Once Jinyoung did, Mark was off and swam as fast as he could to gain a bigger lead before the others caught up as they were almost done with their fifth lap. Mark felt it inside of him that he could do this. The burning passion deep in his heart whenever he competed. He was the fastest swimmer in the school. The game was his.

His ears were covered in water and all he couldn’t hear a single yell or scream coming from the other side to cheer on the one against him. It gave the captain a piece of mind and the only thought he had was that he was going to win this contest and keep his secret. This was his bliss.

 

But that’s not how it turned out.

Jinyoung carefully watched as the other members’ good swimmers started competing and he could see the gap between them and Mark get closer and closer. The captain felt like he was doing well, but in reality, he was losing his momentum just a tad. It was expected as he was swimming multiple laps in one go.

However, that tad was just enough for the last swimmer, Park Jaehyung, to catch up and take the lead at the beginning of the last lap. The junior was the third best swimmer, barely under Jinyoung and Mark. He was a treasure.

The vice-captain knew that Mark had no idea what was going on and didn’t know that they were losing either as Mark often had a clear head during swimming and would even lose track at how fast time was going. That was him and yes, the captain was an amazing swimmer, but it was his only flaw at the same time. Jinyoung sighed deeply as he could see the gap and knew that there was no way they were going to win, but at the same time, he was curious to why Mark needed the team to help out the water polo players.

_Last year, the swim team offered to help due to the seniors, but why is he forcing us to help out this time?_

Park Jaehyung tapped the edge, finishing his last lap, only for the rest of the members to go wild, not noticing Mark tapping in a few seconds later. The boy got out of the pool and realized that he had lost and his eyes fell to the floor in despair. Jinyoung, being vice-captain, got the rest of the team to settle down only for them to hear slow claps once they were quiet.

 

Clap.

Clap.

Clap.

 

The members turned towards the door and saw the water polo captain slowly walk in while clapping with a big smirk on his face. He stood right in front of the swim team who looked at him curiously as they thought that he would be the one upset.

“Congrats, swim team, for beating your precious vice-captain and _captain_ in such an intense contest,” Peniel emphasized captain with his own personal enjoyment, “I was sure they were going to win, but you guys just pulled through!”

The team felt uneasy as they knew something was wrong. The tone in Peniel’s voice was odd and suspicious. They had never seen the water polo captain act such a way and it scared them. Peniel, in their eyes, was just a very well respected athlete as he had such a dynamic personality and amazing talent towards water polo.

“Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be with your water polo team?” Jaehyung asked nervously, trying to send him away and avoid confrontation.  

“Ah, Park Jaehyung. The one who made this deal a little more exciting. I’m glad that you did as either way, I win,” Peniel placed his hand on Jaehyung’s cheek and chuckled, only for the junior to push it away.

“What deal are you talking about? Was this all just a game?” he hissed, already fed up with Peniel’s shit.

“Why don’t you ask your captain? He’s the one who’s losing after all,” Peniel provoked, only for the members to all look at Mark, whose doe like eyes were glued to the floor, shaking

“What deal, Mark?” Jinyoung asked sensitively.

Mark didn’t say a word, his eyes still staring at the floor.

“Mark. _What_ deal?” Jinyoung repeated a bit louder.

Still there was no word from the boy.

“Mark! W--”

“How about I say it then?” Peniel offered, “Since your precious captain refuses to say anything, I will.”

The captain’s hands squeezed into fists out of anger. Mark’s eyes went up and glared at Peniel, who smiled at him with an endearing smile.

_Disgusting._

“The best swimmer in JY Pro, your lovely and wonderful swim captain, Mark Tuan, is hiding a secret not only from you guys, but from everyone in this school,” Peniel said confidently, “I made a deal with him that if he doesn’t get the swim team to cooperate with us, I spill the secret. Either way I win because it was either me getting help for the team or me ruining Mark Tuan’s serene life,”

_No, don’t. Don’t say it!_

“Since you guys are his precious teammates, I think you guys deserve to know the secret first that will hurt Mark Tuan,” Peniel chuckled.

The members held their breath, curious to what the secret was, but at the same time feeling guilty as the captain had only been nice to them, but they were the cause to this situation for not complying.

“Mark Tuan is the…”

 

 

 


	6. Suspicious

 

_Why does the pool have to be at the opposite side of school?_

Jackson barely walked out of the office as the bell rang, notifying that the mandatory hour and a half of practice was over. He would have gotten out earlier if it weren’t for the office ladies fussing over the new student and offering him a bunch of food. Who could resist free food? Not Jackson, not at all.

The boy ran to the pool, knowing that the contest was going to be after the mandatory sports period from the rumors flying by. His stomach filled with Korean delicacies, slowed him down and eventually he just sped walked, bumping into his lovely fencing captain.

“Yah, Jackson Wang! Where are you going? Where are the weapons?” Jaebum asked as he was walking out of the fencing room as there was no extra practice for the day.

“Principal Park is going to bring them up! He told me!” Jackson yelled as he started to run again, not wanting to talk to Jaebum anymore as he knew there was a part of the captain that detested him.

Jaebum watched him run, not sure where to.

_Mr. Park is bringing them up? That doesn’t sound like something he would typically do._

 

By the time Jackson sat down at the stands, it was already the last lap. He didn’t have to see the people supporting which lane to know which swimmer was Mark. After watching the swim captain practice countless times, it couldn’t be more obvious who was who. His heart broke, however, as he noticed that Mark was the one losing. The fencer watched as the rest of team shouted with joy as the last swimmer finished. He saw as Mark realized he had lost and his face lost every ounce of happiness.

And then it got quiet.

Jackson watched as he saw a built figure clapping slowly as he walked towards the team.

_That’s Peniel right? He must be up to no good._

Jackson kept watching, but discreetly kept his phone out, recording just in case.

Jinyoung noticed Jackson sitting in the stands, but not the fact that he was recording. Suspicious by the boy’s presence, he decided to text Bambam.

 

**Jinyoung Sunbae, 2:45pm**

I hope the soccer team isn’t having an extended practice right now because I need you to come to the stands at the pool and follow Jackson. He’s being a little suspicious.

 

**Lacky Bambam, 2:47pm**

I was planning on going out with Yugyeom today, but I guess I’ll do this for you.

 

**Jinyoung Sunbae, 2:48pm**

Good decision.

 

Bambam made up another excuse to Yugyeom that the other easily believed and followed Jinyoung’s orders to come to the pool, sitting a good distance away from Jackson, not even paying attention to the situation down below.

 

“Mark Tuan is the…”

“Stop it!” Mark yelled as loud as he could before Peniel could say another word.

The room fell silent as Mark had never yelled that powerfully before. Even when the swim team would misbehave, his volume was nothing compared how loud he screamed at that moment.

Mark got up and walked straight to Peniel. The tears were evident in his eyes and even the swim team members could see it.

“You promised me! You promised me you would keep this to yourself! Why can’t you at least do this?! Please!” Mark begged as he fell to his knees.

“Get up,” Peniel hissed, Mark obeying automatically, “Begging on your knees? This is the guy that half of the female population fawns over? Nothing you say will change my mind.”

“Please, Peniel! After all we’ve been through!” Mark cried, his hands holding onto the water polo player’s shoulders.

_“Your body is so sinful. I can’t get enough of it.”_

Peniel’s eyes widened as Mark touched him and his mind flashed to the memories they had together immediately. Instinctively, his fist swung into Mark’s lower jaw. The captain lost balance and fell straight into the pool. Peniel’s breaths became heavy as he tried to calm himself down.

“Mark hyung!” yelled one of the members as he ran to help his captain.

The members all glared at Peniel, coming closer to him as they all wanted to beat the crap out of him. One of them stood out, however. Park Jaehyung got right into Peniel’s face and stared him down.

“What the fuck was that for? Was that even necessary?”

“He touched me,” Peniel played off as he brushed off his shoulders, “I don’t like it when trash touches me. Disgusting.”

“Get out of here,” Jaehyung hissed as he pushed Peniel, “We don’t want to hear what you have to say either. It doesn’t matter.”

“Fine, I’ll leave. I’ll just find a better way to expose Mark,” the water polo captain chuckled as he pushed Jaehyung with all his might, causing the junior to topple onto the other swimmers.

Jinyoung caught Jaehyung and brought him back up. He went over to Mark right after and helped the boy who was in complete shock, but couldn’t help but notice that Jackson was no longer in his seat.

 

_That asshole! I’ll get him back!_

Jackson walked out of the pool and headed straight towards the office. He was too upset to notice the Thai boy on his trail. Bambam kept his phone in his hand, ready to give Jinyoung updates on where the new student was headed. As they got close to the office, Bambam immediately texted Jinyoung.

**Lacky Bambam, 2:55pm**

It looks like he’s headed straight toward the office.

 

**Jinyoung Sunbae, 2:56pm**

You can leave. I’m pretty sure I know what he’s going to do.

 

Jinyoung knew exactly who Jackson was and could use him as a valuable asset.

 

“Give me the water polo captain’s number. Peniel, I think is his name,” Jackson demanded of Ms. Shin, who was quite startled by Jackson’s appearance as she could feel the anger coming from him.

“I-, uhm,” she looked around at the other office ladies who encouraged her, “I’ll get it out right away.”

Jackson impatiently waited as Ms. Shin searched it up on the school database. As soon as she gave it and wrote it on a sticky note, Jackson quickly thanked her and headed straight towards his dorm. Bambam was waiting for him as Henry had locked him out of their dorm anyway.

“Hey Jacks--” Bambam tried to greet in the hallway, only for the boy to slam his door at Bambam, not wanting to talk to anyone.

_I wonder why Jinyoung sunbae is so curious about this guy. The way he acts makes me curious about him now._

The boy hopped on his bed and immediately texted the number given to him, trying his best to sound intimidating to Peniel.

**Unknown Number, 3:15pm**

I hope you haven’t told anyone about Mark’s little secret. Your water polo career is hanging on it. :-))

 

**Trash Shin, 3:17pm**

Who is this? What the fuck are you saying right now?

 

**Unknown Number, 3:18pm**

Look. Wouldn’t it be a shame if this video was shown to the principal? Or better yet, the world?

 

**Trash Shin, 3:19pm**

How do you have this? WHO ARE YOU?

 

**Unknown Number, 3:20pm**

It doesn’t matter who I am or how I have this clip. What matters is that you keep your mouth shut. Okay?

 

**Trash Shin, 3:21pm**

Fuck you.

 

**Unknown Number, 3:22pm**

Do you really think this is the time to curse at me? Do you think I’m bluffing because I will fucking send this video to Principal Park and post it online you piece of shit.

 

**Trash Shin, 3:23pm**

OKAY OKAY. I won’t say anything.

 

**Unknown Number, 3:24pm**

Good. I better not see you messing with Mark anymore.

 

Jackson smiled as he laid on his bed, ready to take a nice afternoon nap after a long day. He looked straight up at the ceiling and took a deep breath in and out.

_Even if you hate me and push me away, I’ll try my best to help you._

  


Mark sat down at a bench close to the pool for the longest time just staring at the water. His hand held an ice pack which he pressed on his lower jaw which was slightly bruised. The members tried asking if he was okay and apologizing for not listening to him, but the captain didn’t say a word. One by one they left, and for a while it was just him and Jinyoung. The vice-captain didn’t say anything, but just stayed by his side.

“I’m going to leave now. Will you be okay on your own?” Jinyoung asked only to receive a nod from the captain, “Whatever Peniel has against you, I’m sure that the team will still love you and everything will be okay.”

Jinyoung walked out and Mark chuckled at how wrong he was. He was worried about the secret coming out, but he knew it wouldn’t lead to everyone hating him. It was just going to be different and Mark hated change. He hated knowing that he was going to be treated differently. It wasn’t going to affect his swimming career or anything. It just wasn’t something he wanted everyone to know. It was his own personal information.

_Once everyone knows, all eyes are going to be on me. Even more than now._

Mark was also astonished that someone that he considered his lover a year ago had punched him in the face for touching him. Well, it was his shoulders, which were a total weak spot for Peniel for some strange reason.

_You used to love me holding you there as we made out. The days I would press you onto the wall and push my lips onto yours. Amazing, how things change so quickly._

The boy stared out at the pool and watched as each wave effortlessly moved and his heart relaxed just a bit. Mark felt his heart want to be like the waves in the water, without a care in the world.

_Is this why Jackson comes here?_

Mark turned around to the stands, where Jackson usually sat, and saw no one. He chuckled to himself.

_I guess even he knows I need my space._

Mark sunk his feet into the water and playfully kicked just like he had watched Jackson do. Slowly but surely, a small smile on his face appeared.

 

“Namjoon, can you do me a favor?” Peniel asked as he met with the basketball player at a convenience store as he had called the boy over.

It was quite funny how Peniel and Namjoon were friends as Namjoon was the most homophobic person Peniel knew and the water polo captain was secretly quite gay. Peniel figured he had to keep his enemies closer and the basketball captain was one of them.

“What do you need that you had to call me over?” Namjoon asked as he bought ramen for the two, but Peniel declined as he had to watch his weight for competition.

“Do you know this number? Can you find out who it belongs to?” Peniel asked as he pushed his phone towards Namjoon.

“I don’t know, but I can’t help you. I don’t have that power anymore,” Namjoon stated, pushing the phone back to its owner.

“What do you mean? Your family is the biggest donor to the school!”

“Not anymore,” Namjoon chuckled, “My family is at third. The top two donors are anonymous. So as far as we’re concerned, they could be alumni or outside of this school. But either way, I have no power. I couldn’t even look at the CCTV as someone had popped a couple of our basketballs a couple days ago.”

“Damnit,” Peniel gritted through his teeth, walking away right after.

“Hey! I came all this way to hang out with you!” Namjoon called out as the boy left him alone in the convenience store only to be ignored, “Fine. I’ll enjoy this without you.”

 

The next day, Mark walked into school nervous. He was waiting for people to approach him and ask him if it was true, but no one talked to him, except the usual girls that followed him around school. It was completely normal. He fell asleep in every class as he didn’t want to stay up and worry about his secret being exposed. His teachers yelled at him for it, but honestly, he didn’t care.

“Peniel hasn’t said anything. Don’t worry,” Jinyoung reassured as he slung his free arm around Mark as the two walked to their usual table at lunch.

The two walked over to the already sitting Youngjae and Jaebum who were oddly quiet as they had gotten into another fight. Mark decided to just stay quiet and not say anything, but Jinyoung wanted to open his mouth.

“What’s going on between you two now?” Jinyoung squinted, only for Youngjae huffed and turned the other way.

“So, Youngjae came over to my house yesterday and he thought it was hilarious to take pictures of all my baby pictures and also have a blast talking to my mom and later even adding her on Facebook!” exposed Jaebum as he was quite upset.

“It’s not like you didn’t do the same to me! You’ve done it so many times! You even have long conversations with my mom on Facebook and through text!” bursted Youngjae, causing Mark and Jinyoung to jump out of their seats a bit.

“But that’s different!” defended Jaebum.

“That’s different how? Because that’s you and this is me? I don’t think it works that way, Jaebum!” spat Youngjae, his face turning the slightest bit pink.

“Yeah it does! Youngjae, your mom is way different compared to mine and it’s jus-”

“I don’t want to hear it anymore. I’m just gonna sit with the other soccer guys instead. They at least treat me fairly,” Youngjae grabbed his tray and left.

Jaebum hit his fist on the table, causing all of their trays to jump.

_How do I explain to him without revealing things?_

Jinyoung pressed his lips together as he didn’t want to go any further. He realized it was a bad idea to open up the situation in the first place, which is why the swimmer kept his mouth shut. Mark quietly ate his food, his hand rubbing the fencer’s back who had no appetite.

“Mark motherfucking Tuan,” Peniel hissed as he slammed his hand onto their table, “You did this on purpose, didn’t you?!”

“What are you talking about?” Mark stared at him blankly, his heart racing just a bit.

“This,” Peniel showed the swimmer the text messages he had received the day before.

Mark’s eyes widened as he looked at the text messages and was shocked that someone had video-recorded and blackmailed Peniel. He checked the number that sent it and didn’t recognize it at all.

“This isn’t me. I don’t even have your number as you changed it once Yook Sungjae bought you a new phone. Leave,” Mark motioned for Peniel to leave with his hand.

“Don’t play dumb. A person like you would’ve easily gotten my number and you know it,” Peniel whispered into Mark’s ear.

“Do you want to look through my phone?! Will that satisfy you?!” Mark yelled, pulling out his phone from his pocket.

“No, I don’t need to see. But if it’s you, just watch Mark Tuan,” Peniel warned, speaking in English next, “I will fucking end you.”

Peniel walked away and Mark looked down at his food and continued eating like nothing had happened when inside he felt even more broken.

_I trusted you even when we broke up, but you couldn’t._

“Mark, what was that about?” Jinyoung waved his hand in front of Mark’s face who was in a daze.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it,” Mark pushed off, not wanting to make a bigger deal about the situation.

“Can you translate this for me then? I was going to ask you earlier, but I didn’t want to bother you with the contest and everything,” Jinyoung pushed his phone towards Mark, showing a picture of a letter written in Mandarin.

_“Kayee, remember why you’re there. Don’t have everything I’ve done for you go to waste because of something dumb. Keep fencing and continue my legacy. - Dad.”_

“Where is this from?” Mark asked as he was done reading.

“Jackson Wang. Bambam sent it to me saying it could be interesting to look at if I could find someone to translate,” Jinyoung explained nonchalantly, peaking the interest of the slightly less upset Jaebum.

_This is quite personal. I don’t think I should tell him what it actually means._

“It just says ‘I hope you’re doing well in Korea. The family misses you a lot. Train hard!’ Nothing else really,” Mark lied, shoving another spoonful of rice into his mouth.

“Damn. I wanted to get more information for Jaebum,” Jinyoung chuckled through his own lie, “But I guess it’s nothing. Oh well.”

The three continued eating their food until the bell rang, but something about that letter stayed stuck in the back of Mark’s head throughout the whole day.

 

**Unknown Number, 1:00pm**

I saw that. What did I say about leaving Mark alone? Do you really think I won’t do it?

 

**Trash Shin, 1:01pm**

I’m so sorry. I just thought you were him. Forgive me.

**Unknown Number, 1:02pm**

Well you were wrong. But luckily, I’m nice enough and I’ll let you slip this one time, but one more and I send this straight to Principal Park.

 

Mark went about his day unsure how to feel. There was a huge relief from his shoulders as he now knew that Peniel wasn’t going to say anything, but who was the blackmailer? Were they just trying to attack Peniel or were they interested in him too? He couldn’t think of anyone he knew that hated Peniel as everyone loved the energetic puppy. Sure the swim team now hated him, but none of them could have recorded it. They were all on the ground, but the video was filmed on the stands.

_Wait, no, it can’t be._

Mark leaned his head against the wall, pondering whether it could be Jackson. He had to see the video in order to find out as he couldn’t remember the angle it was filmed in which he saw from the thumbnail. If it was him, that means the fencer had a lot of power.

_What if he knows about me? And that’s why he wants to help me out? For favors or his own benefit?_

Mark grabbed his phone from his bed and called someone simply named “caretaker” in his contacts, which was someone his dad hired to take care of him and be his guardian in South Korea, but the two hardly even talked as Mark constantly pushed him away.

“Mark! What a surprise! What do y--”

“I need you to do me a favor,” the boy clearly stated, “It’s a bit urgent, but it’s mainly just feeding into my curiosity.”

“What is it?” the voice asked.

“Find everything you can on a Jackson Wang from Hong Kong. He may also go by Kayee. Thanks,” Mark said before hanging up.

_Jackson Wang, who are you?_

  
  
  



	7. Trust

 

_“This is all I found about Jackson Wang. There’s quite a lot.”_

Mark sat at his desk at home which was filled with papers his dad had sent him, but in his hands was a packet his caretaker had given him when they briefly met. The two days after Mark had found out that Peniel was being blackmailed flew by as there was no swim practice since there was pool maintenance. The heaters in the pool unexpectedly broke and no one wanted to swim in cold water for hours, even if they would eventually get “used to it.”

It was slightly frustrating for the captain as he really wanted to swim, but it allowed him to relax and work on the stuff from his father and despite the fight they went through the week prior, both of them sucked up their pride and did what they had to do.

The boy opened the packet and found several clippings of newspapers and printed articles. It seemed that Jackson was known to the public through other names, such as Kayee and Jia Er. It allowed him to cover up his past from the people in school that only knew him as Jackson.

_Funny how similar we are._

Mark read the articles pertaining to Jackson’s father and how popular he was in fencing. His father’s background was quite extensive and it even talked about how much wealth he had not only from his fencing but inheritance. It lead to the public looking at him and his older brother, wondering what would become of them. His older brother was later forgotten and not talked about in articles and all eyes went onto Jackson. The boy was told to have moved around a lot to learn from the best fencers and it goes on about the fencer’s career.

_When it talks about the success of Jackson’s fencing career, they use that name. Wang Jackson._

The boy flipped to the most recent articles and it talked about the disappearance of Kayee after his last competition in Hong Kong. It goes on these long conspiracies to what happened to the boy. They assume that he has either stopped fencing or practicing in secret to make a comeback later on to the public and surprise them.

And then there was the article that answered the most questions.

_Wang Kayee kicked out of the Hong Kong national fencing team._

Mark read on the article and it talks about Jackson not showing up to practice and when he did the boy was told to have a bad attitude and refused to play nonetheless hold his weapon. The fencing coaches tried to work with the boy and tried to get him to cooperate, but it was all worthless as he would not fence. They had no other choice but to kick him out, but said he is more than welcome to come back once he decides that he wants to play again as he is an excellent fencer. The whereabouts of Wang Kayee were said to be unknown to the public still.

This article was dated three days before school started. This shows that he came here because he was kicked out. But why was someone who refused to fence attending a top level sports academy in the fencing team? This doesn’t make sense.

Mark tried to search for answers on why the fencer refused to play on the Hong Kong national fencing team, but there wasn’t anything that mentioned it. Instead, articles made speculations saying he had a “bad attitude,” “broke down from all the pressure of the sport” or simply “got tired of fencing.” In the swimmer’s eyes, they all didn’t make sense after knowing the bits and pieces about the Jackson who went to the same school as him.

_Unless there’s more to it that I don’t know. Maybe if I knew what went on the fencing room at school._

The boy cleaned up all of the articles and put them back into the packet. He placed it in one of his cabinets and locked it with the rest of his other packets as he usually did background checks on the people around him, including his friends, just to make sure there was nothing too wrong with them.

_One thing is for sure, the Wang family has a lot of money which means he’s probably one of the top 2 donors with… Namjoon? It’s always been Namjoon since freshman year, so I would suspect._

Mark sat down at his desk and began reviewing everything his father had sent him, preparing for the small trip to China that his father asked him to go to. According to Mr. Tuan, it was lucky for Mark that they postponed the event, allowing him to still be able to go. The flight was scheduled for the upcoming Thursday, giving Mark plenty of time to confront Jackson.

 

Jackson, on the other hand, was having a blast. It was finally the weekend and someone had finally asked him to hang out. Well two people, but this had never happened since he came to Seoul, so the boy was ecstatic, even if it meant he was third wheeling.

“Hyung! I’m glad you decided you wanted to hang out with us,” smiled Yugyeom as he turned to Jackson, “I was telling Bambam that it must be lonely being the new student in a foreign country.”

“I didn’t have many friends back home either, so it wasn’t too bad, but I’m glad you guys allowed me to intervene on your date."

“You stood up for us! We’re friends now, okay? No one else would dare to do what you did,” Yugyeom brought a smile to Jackson’s face as he heard that they were now friends.

This was purely Yugyeom’s idea, no malicious intent from Bambam nor Jinyoung at all. As the boy walked to Bambam’s dorm, he noticed Jackson’s room whose door was wide open, displaying the sight of the new student doing absolutely nothing. Yugyeom felt bad for the fencer and asked Bambam if they could take Jackson along and Bambam didn’t want to refuse, knowing that he hadn’t been treating his boyfriend the best lately.

“So, tell us about yourself,” Bambam initiated in conversation as the three sat down for lunch at a closeby restaurant.

“Well,” Jackson sighed, “There’s nothing really to know. I’m from Hong Kong and I fence. That’s about it.”

“Ah, hyung. I’m sure there’s more than that! Why did you decide to come here?” Yugyeom whined as he was curious.

“My dad thought I would be able to expand my fencing career and knowledge by coming here as JY is one of the best sports focused high schools in the world,” Jackson shrugged off, “How about you, Bambam? Why did you come here?”

“I’ve always been gifted at playing soccer and I was going to do better things in Thailand, but I felt like I didn’t know enough. If I had joined the teams in Thailand, I would’ve been around people a lot older than me. My mom also owns a chain of Korean restaurants back home, so I looked into sports high schools in Korea, and JY peaked my interests the most, so here I am,” Bambam explained with a small smirk on his face.

“Are you the best soccer player in JY? Are you captain of the team?” Jackson asked only for the two to smile.

“That’s a funny story alright,” Yugyeom chuckled, “It’s unfair, but it’s how it is. Explain to him, babe.”

“Not to be cocky, but yes, I am the best soccer player and Yugyeom here is a close number two. Both of us were in the runnings to be the next captain and everyone for sure thought it was going to me. At the time, Yugyeom and I were a year into our relationship and we didn’t know how homophobic the school was as we didn’t pay attention to people’s remarks and no one in the school really came out. We were tired of hiding it, so we came out and everyone looked at us differently. They stayed away from us and we started getting beat up. The bullies were tolerable, but when our last captain picked the following captain, he surprisingly picked Bang Yongguk instead of me or Yugyeom,” Bambam’s face fell to the floor.

“I still remember what he told us. He said that he chose Bang Yongguk because he was afraid that the soccer team would get hate for having a gay captain. He was afraid the soccer team’s funding would get cut off as well from the top 2 donors’ power. It was a low point in our lives because we felt like everything came crashing down because of our love,” Yugyeom continued.

“Do you remember? All the fights we had after all of that? Yelling that we shouldn’t have come out and questioning our love towards each other,” Bambam turned to his boyfriend and Yugyeom just nodded before both of them looked back at Jackson.

“I’m so sorry that happened to you two. I can’t imagine how horrible it must have been,” Jackson sympathized, only for Yugyeom to rub his back.

“We’re fine now, don’t worry. The soccer team still loves us and we still get beat up every now and then, but we get through because we love each other and being around the other makes us happy,” Yugyeom smiled at Jackson, trying to reassure him.

The three of them went silent and Yugyeom and Jackson kept looking at the counter, waiting for a waiter or waitress to come with food but the restaurant was packed. Bambam, however, kept looking at Jackson.

“Jackson sunbae,” Bambam softly called out, getting the elder’s attention.

“Yeah? What is it?” Jackson responded.

“Are you gay? Is that why you helped us?” Bambam asked on a whim that had been in the back of his mind for a while.

_“Are you one of them too? A disgusting piece of gay trash?” hissed the captain._

Jackson paused before answering, his eyes looking at his hands playing wit the hem of his shirt as he tried to think of the right words to say.

“My sexuality isn’t the reason why I helped you guys,” Jackson chuckled as he looked up and gave a vague answer, “I helped you two because sexuality doesn’t define whether you’re human or not. So don’t worry about mine.”

The two simply nodded leaving a slightly awkward silence once again before the food arrived. The boys ate without saying a word because they were all quite starving. After they finished eating, Jackson made up an excuse on why he had to leave in order for the couple to enjoy the rest of their date as he felt like just eating with them was being much of a nuisance. The two didn’t mind it at all and decided to walk around to digest their food.

“Jinyoung sunbae is curious about Jackson, isn’t he?” Yugyeom asked out of the blue, shocking Bambam.

“How did you know?” Bambam asked, his eyes widened.

“I saw you following him and texting someone, so I assumed. And no, I’m not mad. I still don’t understand why you do so much for him, but I trust you,” Yugyeom said, sending shivers up Bambam’s spine with the word trust, “But, what we heard from Jackson today, I have a feeling he’s going through a lot right now and that there’s a lot that he’s hiding. The more you find out about him, the more you might understand him and I hope you won't do anything too far that will hurt him.”

“I would never think of going too low, especially if it is something tough for him,” Bambam looked to the floor.

“I just had to make sure because what you did last school year wi--”

“I know. It was horrible and I shouldn’t have went that far. I know you were disappointed, but I was also disappointed in myself,” Bambam confessed only for his boyfriend told him in his arms.

“I trust you. I hope you heard that the first time and remember that,” he whispered into the Thai boy’s ear.

 

Monday came along and everything was going smoothly throughout the school day. Well, Youngjae and Jaebum were still fighting and Youngjae refused to be around his boyfriend which was hard as they sat next to each other in the three classes they had together. The soccer player would sit at the edge of the table and look the other way, making the fencer anxious. Jinyoung and Mark decided not to get involved and not talk about the subject anymore.

At the end of the school day, Jackson sat at his usual spot at the stands near the pool. The maintenance was finished and swimming team was having an extended practice to make up for their lost time. Jackson noticed how everyone respected and listened to their captain. Mark, despite being soft spoken, had natural leadership skills. He was still lacking which was why there was a vice captain, but in Jackson’s eyes, Jinyoung’s position was useless. Mark shined brightly on his own.

After an hour and a half, the team was finished and all of them headed for the locker room except Mark as usual. Jackson watched the swimmer practice and smiled unconsciously.

_“Are you one of them too? A disgusting piece of gay trash?” hissed the captain._

Jackson snapped out of it and shook his head. He had never thought about being anything but straight that Bambam’s question the past weekend was pestering him and constantly on his mind, especially at the thought of the swim captain.

_I’m straight. I have to be! I’ve never been anything but straight. I can’t have feelings for a guy, nonetheless one I hardly know._

Jackson looked back at the pool and noticed that Mark was about to leave. He watched the boy push himself out and dry himself off. He hung his towel around his neck and picked up his stuff. Mark, surprisingly, walked past the locker room and towards the stands.

_Why did he? Is he coming here? Is he gonna talk to me?_

Jackson instinctively ran out of the room, his heart beating rapidly. He stopped at a corner and held onto the wall, breathing in and out harshly. The boy looked back to make sure Mark wasn’t following him and to his relief, the swimmer was nowhere to be seen. He exhaled in relaxation before walking to his dorm room.

 

Mark walked up the steps, ready to confront Jackson, but saw that the boy had left. He walked back down to the locker room, scratching his head.

_Where did the guy go? He usually doesn’t leave until I get ready to close up.  That’s weird._

 

The next two days were frustrating to Mark as Jackson would leave as soon as he would try to talk to him. Every time Mark came up those steps, the boy would disappear. The swimmer just wanted some answers to why Jackson decided to help him. Mark was scheduled to leave Thursday at night and he didn’t want to have this linger anymore.

“Do you guys have an extended practice today?” Mark asked out of the blue during the middle of lunch.

“Why? Did Youngjae ask you? Is he gonna finally talk to me?” Jaebum pressed, only for Mark laugh slightly.

“No, sorry. I just wanted to know,” the boy sheepishly admitted, “We’ve been having extended practices too, so I was curious.”

“Oh,” Jaebum's face dropped, “ Well, yeah we do. It’s just more conditioning, as usual until the month passes for us to use weapons.”

Mark nodded and finished eating lunch, only for Jinyoung to look at him confusingly. Mark usually wasn’t “curious” and asked random questions like that. There was always a reason. The boy made a mental note to look into Mark and his recent intentions soon.

The captain ended extended practice a half hour earlier than usual and all of the swimmers headed to the locker room with joy as the decided to celebrate with food which they covered up as a “team bonding.” Mark got dressed quickly, surprising the members as the captain always left last.

“Are you going with us this time? Why aren’t you practicing late as usual?” asked Jaehyung, hoping for the captain’s presence to the team bonding.

“Sorry, I can’t. I’m busy,” Mark closed his locker, “I have to do something around school real quick. I’ll still be locking up though, so don’t worry about that.”

Mark walked out and to the entrance in the floor above that led to the stands. He went inside and sat right next to the door, turning his body right where to Jackson usually sat. He patiently waited for the boy by looking through his papers once again. Thirty minutes later, Jackson walked through the door, not noticing the swim captain’s unusual presence.

Jackson sat down, ready to drown his thoughts at the sight of the waters, but saw the calm water in the swimming pool with no one practicing, which was unusual. Shocked and nervous of the whereabouts of the captain he had been avoiding, he got up out of his seat to get a better view and looked around the bottom floor. Seeing absolutely no one around, he sat back down and sighed, wondering where the captain was.

_Check and mate, buddy._

“Why did you do it?” Mark asked authoritatively, causing Jackson to jump out of his seat before looking back at the captain.

“Do what? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jackson nervously lied, trying to cooly play it off.

_How does he know that it was me? No one knows the number to my phone, not even the school._

“You know what I’m talking about. Blackmailing Peniel Shin. Why did you do it?” Mark asked once again, with a tad of anger mixed in.

“Me? Blackmail Peniel? I didn’t text him anything. I know it looks like I did because of the video, and at this angle, but I have no idea what you’re saying!” blabbered the flustered fencer, giving himself away easily.

“I didn’t say anything about a video,” Mark chuckled, cocking his head to the side, “You’re such a horrible liar. Answer me. Why did you do it?”

_Am I that pathetic in your eyes, Jackson? Is my situation with Peniel that sad that you feel the need to help me? I don’t need your pity._

Mark got up out of his seat and got close to Jackson, staring into his eyes. He didn’t know why he was getting so upset over the matter, maybe it was the fact that someone who he hardly knew was suspiciously trying to help him. He couldn’t afford to let someone break him again.

“I just… Peniel was being a jerk to you and I just wanted to help an--”

“I didn’t ask for your help, Wang Kayee!” Mark yelled in Mandarin, leaving Jackson completely dumbfounded at the sound of his other name, “What were you expecting out of this? A thank you? A ‘oh my gosh, Jackson Wang, you saved my life?’ Or do you actually know my secret and want to be the only one to take advantage of me, Mr. I’m-So-Rich?”

“You… know?” Jackson hesitatingly asked, ignoring the second part of Mark’s rant, “How? What do you know?”

Mark smirked spitefully before answering, sending chills down Jackson’s spine. The swimmer’s eyes grew dark before speaking.

“Just get out of my business, will you? I don’t need your help. Why would I trust someone like you who’s hiding his identity behind other names?” Mark snarked, avoiding Jackson’s questions.

_I’m such a hypocrite._

Jackson was speechless. Mark started to walk away, mentally shaking his head at the same time for saying something so foolish as he was just like Jackson in that manner. He stopped, however, at the sound of the boy’s piercing voice.

“My name is Jackson Wang. I wasn’t lying when I told you that not too long ago. There are other parts to my name such as Kayee and Jia Er and my father manipulated the media to use these certain names at the right times. I don’t know how much you know, but no one else in the school knows this. I got kicked out of the Hong Kong national fencing team and yes, that’s why I’m here. My father shipped me off here after getting kicked out, having hope that I will change when he has done nothing to help me. He thinks the reason why I got kicked out, the fact that I have a trauma towards fencing, is stupid and it’s just me being lazy. This is me. This is who I really am,” Jackson declared with pride in his voice.

Mark turned around only to see the boy tearing up. He was torn as a part of him felt bad, but a part of him wanted to stay distant and push him off.

“Why are you telling me this? I do--”

“I’m telling you this because I want you to know that I trust you. Even though you act cold towards me and we hardly know each other, for some reason, I can trust you. I don’t even know your big secret and I don’t care if you tell me or not either! So don’t think that’s the case either.”

_So, he doesn’t know… oops._

Mark looked at the ground as Jackson had hit him in the heart cold with the word “trust.” He looked at his watch shortly after and realized he was late.

“Fuck, I’m going to miss my flight,” he whispered to himself.

“Wait, where are you going?” Jackson called out, but receiving no response.

The boy ran off and Jackson stayed standing there, his heart still in pain from releasing that much information about himself, hoping that his trust wasn’t going to go waste.

 

 


	8. Understanding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay this chapter is a bit longer than usual so read carefully as there's a ton of information. c:

 

 

Jinyoung impatiently tapped his foot as the swim team was arguing about where they wanted to go get food. He honestly didn't care where they ate as he wasn’t too hungry and would just rather find out what Mark had to do so urgently. From his given information, he guessed it had to do with one of the fencing members, most likely Jackson.

“Jinyoung hyung? Are you okay?” Jaehyung waved his hand in front of the vice captain’s face.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Jinyoung reassured, getting back to his senses, “Will you excuse me for a bit? I have to do something real quick.¨

“I’ll wait for you. The place we decided to go is a bit of a walk and the rest of the members have a ride so I’ll drive us,” Jaehyung smiled.

Jinyoung nodded and left the locker room and checked the time. He didn't even realize that almost an hour had passed with the swim team changing and arguing over where to go. Hoping for the best, the swimmer waited in front of the fencing locker room, only to bump into Jaebum who was about to leave.

“Jinyoung, what are you doing here? Is something wrong?” the fencer was confused by the swimmer’s sudden appearance.

“Did Mark come by here? I could’ve sworn he had business to do with one of the fencers after what he asked you today at lunch. He usually never asks questions like that randomly,” Jinyoung explained.

“I was expecting him to come by too honestly because it did seem a bit suspicious to me as well but nope. He hasn’t stopped by and I just locked up the room too,” Jaebum informed, shaking his head.

_He must be at the swimming pool with Jackson. That’s my last guess._

The vice captain said goodbye to Jaebum and hurried over to the swimming pool, only for someone else to run past him.

Mark.

Jinyoung stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at the boy, only for him to be long gone. As he was close to the doors already, he opened them only to find absolutely no one around. Not even Jackson in the stands.

_What the fuck happened? He didn’t even lock up the pool like he said he was._

The Korean boy locked up quickly and met up with Jaehyung who was already in his car, waiting out front. Jinyoung quickly got inside and put on his seatbelt. The junior’s car wasn’t much honestly, but it was expected of a typical high schooler. The driver simply grinned at Jinyoung before driving off, oblivious to the chaos going in the passenger’s mind.

_I usually have the right suspicions, but this time I was either wrong or late. I have to figure out what are Mark’s recent intentions._

  


Mark ran to the student parking lot, not paying attention to his swim mates’ reactions who were surprised to still see him on campus as they all thought he was off school grounds, attending to something important. He always parked on the last floor where no other cars were parked as his car was not of the typical high schooler; it was a high end model. Not only that, but it was black, had tinted windows, and was still in top condition as the boy hardly used it to keep people off of his radar. No one needed to know that he had the car and how he got it.

He quickly turned on the engine and drove to the airport. He focused his mind on what he had to think about for the trip and tried to push out any thought of Jackson. Once he got to the airport, he parked his car in one of the parking garages and climbed over to the back seat, where he quickly changed from his school uniform of black pants and a white collared button up into an all black suit. Black slacks, black button up, black tie, and black blazer; just the way he liked it. He threw his uniform into a duffel bag and got out of the car. Mark dusted himself off to make sure there weren’t any noticeable wrinkles on his outfit, at which there weren’t, and grabbed his suitcase and luggage from the trunk.

“First class, Yien Tuan,” the airport staff read as Mark showed her his airplane ticket and passport.

“Yes,” the boy confirmed before receiving his ticket and passport and stepping onto the airplane.

_I lead a double life too with different names too, Jackson._

Mark settled onto the airplane in first class. He sat in the back, luckily, as no one could peek over at what he was working on. The person sitting next to him was already knocked out and the plane wasn’t even off the ground yet. Not being able to use his laptop yet due to plane rules, Mark sat there impatiently, his fingers tapping his armrest. He tried to think of important things such as the swim team and the trip, but after hearing his other name, he could only think of Jackson.

_“I’m telling you this because I want you to know that I trust you. Even though you act cold towards me and we hardly know each other, for some reason, I can trust you. I don’t even know your big secret and I don’t care if you tell me or not either! So don’t think that’s the case either.”_

Jackson’s voice rang in Mark’s head. His body shuddered thinking about how Jackson used that word. Trust.

_Is he really harmless? Did I just have the wrong impression of him? I thought he was just going to use me, but he trusts me? Someone he hardly knows? It doesn’t make sense._

“You may now use your electronics on airplane mode. The wifi is complimentary for those in first class. The rest of you can still use the wifi with a small fee,” stated the flight attendant.

Mark immediately got out his laptop and briefcase under his seat. He took out Jackson’s packet and searched up whatever he could find on him that his caretaker didn’t tell him.

_There’s gotta be something that’s wrong with him that will give me a reason not to trust him._

After a good 15 minutes of searching online and through his packet, he was stumped. He had to have a reason to not trust Jackson because he could feel his heart want to at least be well acquainted with the guy, but he wanted his brain to shut his heart down and say no. His interaction with Peniel still scarred him and honestly, it scared him.

“Is there anything else that you didn’t include about Jackson? Anything about how people around him felt about him and his personality?” emailed Mark to his caretaker, not waiting long for a response back.

“What goodie. I get to hear from you yet again! And to answer your question, from what my sources gathered, Mr. Wang is known to be a very positive person filled with energy. He’s considered the mood-maker especially on the HK national fencing team. He smiled a lot. I didn’t send you those photos so you can take a look in the attachment,” replied his caretaker.

Mark opened the photos and saw how bright Jackson’s smile shined. It even made him feel happier and so much more positive. Most of all, his smile looked so natural that Mark couldn’t tell if he was faking his happiness in any of the photos. He radiated and the Taiwanese boy understood how much this smile had an impact on those around him to be called the mood-maker. He even noticed all of the hair color changes Jackson went through, his hair was a nice brunette now, but there was something about Jackson in blonde hair that Mark fancied, but couldn’t put to his tongue why specifically. After looking at all of the photos, Mark unconsciously smiled and let out a soft chuckle.

“Are you also looking for Wang Kayee?”

Mark turned around to his side only to see the person next to him looking at him and his laptop screen, most likely just woke up from his nap.

“Why do you ask? Are you?” Mark hesitatingly asked, trying not to reveal what he knows.

“Yes. I heard rumors that he came to South Korea. It is assumed he’s attending one of the sports academies, but none of them are releasing information on whether they have a Wang Kayee enrolled or not. I tried to even bribe them, but they refused. I had no choice but to come back and work on other reports,” explained the man.

“Are there others looking for him as well?”

“Of course!” the man yelled slightly louder than he should have, but immediately bringing down his volume, “No one knows what happened to him so everyone is confused and wanting answers.”

“We will be landing in five minutes. Please turn off all electronics and store carry ons,” the flight attendant announced.

The two stopped talking to clean up and turn off what they had. The landing wasn’t too bad in Mark’s opinion, but he was used to it. The man next to him, however, was a bit shaken up. Once he noticed Mark looking at him, he laughed.

“I can never get used to it. No matter how many times I ride an airplane,” the young man said as he shook his head in embarrassment, “By the way, my name is Alex. Remember that as one day I’ll be a big shot! What’s your name?”

 “Yien.”

Mark didn’t like to talk too much to random people, specifically when he went off as Yien. The more people knew about him, the easier it could get for him to be caught. Alex and Mark chatted for a little longer before the reporter pouted at how they didn’t have much time together. He made the Taiwanese boy promise to chat with him next time they were in the same area before going their separate ways.

  
  


Jackson sat in his room, trying to get his mind off of his incident with Mark as he watched TV, but it wasn’t working. Eventually, he turned off the TV and threw the remote onto his bed before getting up and looking at the cork board in his room.

“Okay, if today is the 25th, and school started on the 2nd of August, then I have…” Jackson paused as he counted, exhaling deeply right after, “8 more days until the fencing team starts using weapons.”

The boy opened his closet and brought out the box that contained his sabre. He opened it and smiled at it. The sheath was right below it, but Jackson didn’t even have the heart to put it inside. For the longest time, he just looked at it, praying to God that he’ll be able to use it in time.

_I told Mark the person who I am. The one who can’t hold a sabre._

A small smirk appeared on his face as a slight burden was lifted off of his shoulders as he remembered that maybe now, with someone knowing that he trusted for some odd reason, he won’t have to go through this trauma alone.

  


“7 more days!” yelled Jaebum as the fencing team gathered after quickly changing and lining up in a single file line.

The members cheered, specifically the rowdy Up10tion who were all excited to finally start fencing with weapons. Jackson, of course, stayed silent as he was not ecstatic about how fast time had gone.

And he had not progressed at all.

“I’m peculiarly enthusiastic to see this mysterious one fence!” Jaebum cheered as he pointed to Jackson, bringing all eyes toward him.

“Are you a good fencer, hyung? Did you earn any awards? Are you well known back in Hong Kong?” asked Jinwook, who was standing right next to the Chinese fencer.

_I earned awards, yes. I’m well known back home, yes. Am I good fencer? I was… but who knows about now._

Jackson stayed quiet, only for one of the fencers to yell at the curious Jinwook.

“Of course he’s a good fencer! He wouldn’t have transferred here as a senior if he wasn’t, especially at this school with how competitive our fencing department is!” hissed Sooil, friendly smacking the boy.

“Settle down,” Jaebum said, motioning his arms down as well, “We’ll find out about Jackson’s skill soon enough. If he belongs here at the varsity fencing team, or if he should go down to junior varsity. OR EVEN, if he shouldn’t be here at all.”

The atmosphere got cold and tense and the members went quiet at the last statement. Jaebum simply laughed it off, but Jackson had a bad feeling about it.

_He knows something, doesn’t he?_

“I’m just joking! Geez! You guys get so tense,” Jaebum smiled, his eyes turning into crescents. The fencers sighed in relief, but one of them was just not having it.

“Yeah, uh huh. Are you gonna make us tense again by not going to show up to another competition?” Jinwook snarked, getting the members to laugh.

“When will you guys let that go?” Jaebum exasperated.

“NEVER,” joked the mischievous boy, only for the captain to glare at him.

The members giggled around and Jaebum chased Jinwook who kept teasing the captain. Jackson sat down on the floor, not ready for what comes ahead.

  


“One, two, three! One, two, three!” shouted the swimming team in unison as Jackson walked in from the stands.

The swimmers were all in the pool doing simple yet tedious arm exercises. The one watching them and making sure they were doing it right was the vice captain, Jinyoung. He had a whistle that hung around his neck as the members could get quite noisy and didn’t listen to him as much as Mark, whom they respected far much more as he was their captain last year as well.  

Jinyoung noticed the door open and saw Jackson right away. He looked at the members and motioned for them to keep going as he walked away and toward the Chinese fencer. Jackson was looking for Mark as he wanted to try to process with him what had happened the day before, but he couldn’t see him at all.

“If you’re looking for Mark, he’s not here,” Jinyoung informed as he got close to the boy, startling him as Jackson didn’t even notice his presence.

“I--uhm,” the boy hesitated, feeling awkward around the vice captain as they hardly spoke except for the rare times in the one class they had together, Chemistry, “What happened to him? Do you know when he’ll back?”

“He has days where he just disappears and the administration just clears it. He’s scheduled to come back to school next Tuesday, so come back then if you want to talk to him.”

Jackson simply nodded and Jinyoung began to walk away and back to the swim team, but then he stopped and turned around.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you something, Jackson.”

“What is it?” Jackson cautiously replied as he turned toward the swimmer.

“What’s your relationship with Mark? Is he why you keep coming here to the stands?” asked Jinyoung with a strong tone that made the boy shiver.

“I… uhm. We’re just acquaintances, really,” Jackson shrugged his right hand scratching the back of his neck, “I only come here often because the pool is very… relaxing to me, I guess?”

“Well, acquaintances wouldn’t ask what happened to the other as they wouldn’t have a strong enough bond to care,” the swimmer pointed out.

“I just had a… misunderstanding with him that I wanted to clear up because I felt like I had to. Don’t take it otherwise,” Jackson showed slight frustration in his last statement.  

Jinyoung simply nodded before going back to the pool where the other swimmers were begging for a break. Jackson watched him for a bit and how he acted before walking to his dorm as he had no use being at the pool, especially since the vice captain’s presence made him feel more tense than relaxed.

_There’s something about him that I don’t like._

  


“Ugh, I don’t want to get up,” groaned Mark as he shut off his phone alarm, the sun seeping through the window blinds, attacking his eyes.

The time he had to wake up for today was much later than the time he had to wake up for school so he was grateful for that, but he was still unwilling to leave bed, notably as the sheets and mattress of the hotel bed were absolutely comfortable and probably expensive as well.

The boy snuggled into his sheets for a couple more minutes before getting ready for the long day. He quickly showered and got dressed. His outfit was similar to the previous day with black slacks, black tie, and black blazer, but this time he had a white button up. He put up his hair with some gel, put on a simple yet classy gold watch, and made sure all the files he needed for the day were in his briefcase and ready to go before leaving.

“We’ve been expecting you.”

Mark entered the building a couple minutes before the time he was supposed to come, but unluckily enough, almost everyone was already there. He shook everyone’s hands and greeted them well despite the fact that there was no part of him that wanted to be there.

But he was good at putting up a front.

He did it all the time when it came to his fangirls that desperately wanted his attention. Acting nice and grateful towards them was all a facade as he wanted nothing to do with them and wished they would just leave him alone. Most of them were in the JY as well, so instead of bothering Mark, he felt like they should be practicing instead.

He did it all the time when it came to the underclassmen swimmers that kissed his ass just to learn a few tips or even get an upper advantage in the teams. Luckily, no one on varsity was like that as they got into the top tier based on their own hard work and merit alone, not because they were kissing up to Mark. He pretended to be enthusiastic by their efforts to get close to him, but he was nowhere near the sort. He believed that if they really wanted to get into varsity and do well, they should spend more time at the pool than hanging out with him. It’s not like his talent wasn’t going to rub off on them either.

He did it even with his friends. Not all the time, however, but the days where their personalities were overwhelming, he wanted nothing but to be away from them. But he couldn’t do that to them. It was more of Youngjae and Jaebum that he felt that towards as Jinyoung had more of an understanding of what made Mark tick. It was worse when Jinyoung and Mark first met the other two.

_The four of them were in the same group for freshman orientation. All of them seemed to have went to JY-Pro’s middle school sports academy, but never crossed roads as four. Youngjae and Jaebum were not too familiar but knew each other as Youngjae recently moved to Seoul from Mokpo at the end of their eighth grade year and they lived in the same neighborhood. They were getting along quite well though. Jinyoung and Mark lived right next to each other and the Korean was especially welcoming when Mark came from the States, helping him with his native language and offering his home to the boy if he ever felt lonely or homesick._

_“I’m Youngjae and I’m a soccer player and this is Jaebum. He’s a fencer. Just a warning, he’s a bit of a grouch,” Youngjae giggled, only earning a groan from Jaebum._

_“You can’t just describe me like that. What a great first impression. I’m sorry. What’s your guys’ names?” the boy smiled with a smile that Mark could tell wasn’t fully genuine._

_“I’m Jinyoung and he’s Mark. We’re both swimmers and Mark and he came here from the States two years ago.”_

_“Nice to meet you guys,” Mark quietly said._

_It was mainly the three of them that chatted and Mark just listened. At the time, he was still insecure about his Korean and was always afraid to say the wrong thing. If he was honest, this group of friends helped him to get more comfortable with the language. Youngjae and Jaebum especially, as the two loved to pester him with questions._

_“Mark, how is it like living in a different country alone?” one would ask._

_“Mark, how many languages do you know? Which language is the one you think and dream in?” the other would ask right after._

_“Mark, why did you decide to come to Korea?” another would ask again._

_The two bombarded the Taiwanese boy with several questions as such and Mark did understand that they were just curious and that was just who they were, but he couldn’t help getting annoyed at them. There were times that he wanted to yell at them to shut up and yes, he had gotten really close, but never said anything._

Don’t get him wrong, Mark cared a lot about his friends and he wouldn’t have hung out with them all his years in high school if it weren’t true. He felt that it was only normal to get annoyed and frustrated as no one was perfect. So instead, the boy hid his other emotions and answered the two’s questions and complied.

“Mr. Tuan, do you have any objections to the proposal?” asked the man sitting across from him.

Mark got out of his daze and tried to comprehend what was happening. He thought about all the documents his father had sent him and if it fit with what was going on at the meeting. Thankfully, it was just fine.

“Nope. Let’s go through with the plan,” confirmed Mark in a strong formal tone.

  


And that’s how Mark’s weekend passed, doing all these things for his father. He had to argue and disagree a couple times which was always a pain, but it was how it was. He decided to go home Tuesday, however, as he wanted a day to himself on Monday. A day to relax and think about everything.

Part of him actually didn’t want to go back home earlier was because of school. Being a senior who would get into university due to athletics, academics didn’t seem necessary anymore and he was just lazy. Many people called this senioritis, and god, he was dying from it.

So, there Mark was, exploring the city and eating great Chinese food and having a blast. He was no longer wearing his suit and tie which honestly, he hated wearing, even at school which is why his tie often hung loosely around his neck at school. Instead, he was wearing comfortable gray joggers and a plain white t-shirt. He found himself at an athletics store and decided to buy some clothing for practices and workouts at the weight room.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said a boy as he carelessly bumped into Mark, holding a handful of clothing.

“It’s okay,” Mark chuckled, only to notice a familiar face, “Oh?”

_I bet he’s close friends with Jackson._

_Mark looked through pictures of Jackson from what his caretaker had emailed him and saw that there was one person usually around Jackson when he was smiling. It was a Chinese boy who looked a bit younger than him and Jackson. He didn’t beam as much as Jackson but had his own mysterious appeal._

“Do I know you, sir? Have we met before?” he asked, not recognizing Mark’s face at all.

“No, but I know you. At least I think I do. You’re affiliated with Jackson Wang, aren’t you?”

“Oh no, you’re a reporter, aren’t you? I’ve told every single reporter the same thing. I don’t know where he is!” he yelled in frustration, startling the elder, “I just came here in my free time to relax and I get asked again!”

“Woah, woah, woah. Calm down. I’m not reporter,” Mark assured, flashing a smile, “I just wanted to ask something about him. Nothing about fencing or where he is, if you don’t mind. My name is Mark, by the way.”

Mark decided to introduce himself as Mark instead of Yien just in case the boy still kept in touch with Jackson.

“Are you sure you’re not a reporter?” he questioned, just to make sure.

Mark nodded and the boy sighed in relief, giving the Taiwanese boy a handshake soon after.

"I’m Junhui. There’s a cafe nearby if you want to chat. I was planning on going there after shopping anyway.”

The elder agreed and after buying their clothes from the athletics store, that’s where they went. Mark bought the drinks as he felt it was necessary since he was taking up Junhui’s precious time. The younger found a seat and patiently waited.

“So, what do you want to know?” he asked as Mark sat down and handed him his drink.

“It’s kind of vague but what’s Jackson like?” the elder question, leaning back in his chair as he sipped on his frappuccino, “Like his personality.”

“Why that? Have you not met him before and just want more information on him? Are you really not a reporter? I promised Jackson I wouldn’t release anything to the press,” Junhui tried to pry out of Mark, quite skeptical of the other.

“No, I promise you. I’m not a reporter; I’m still a student actually. I know I look older, but yeah here,” explained the elder.

He took out his wallet, grabbing his student ID which was all the way in his hidden pocket as he was going by Yien on this trip and didn’t want people accidentally seeing his other identity.

“I’d show you my school and stuff, but that’s a little personal. Either way, this should be enough proof,” Mark held out his school ID, covering up the school name with his thumb, so it only showed the valid school year, his picture, and name.

Junhui looked back and forth from the ID picture to the person sitting in front of him and there was no doubt that the two were the same people. He sat back in his chair and smirked.

“You still didn’t answer my question on why you want this information,” the boy stated, “How do you even know that I’m his close friend?”

“I’m familiar with him, but at the same time, I’m very skeptical about his personality. The truth is, I tried looking into him through online research and I recognized your face as there are a lot of pictures of the two of you online,” Mark confessed, a bit nervous to admitting the background check.

“Why don’t you ask him yourself? Or better yet, get to know him yourself?”

“It’s kinda weird and uncomfortable if I ask him myself. Also, first hand experience and what others outside are two different perspectives as I might interpret him and his personality a lot different than someone else might,” the Taiwanese boy explained.

Junhui sat there and thought about what to say and whether the elder’s response was a good enough answer for him.

“I’ll tell you,” the Chinese boy said with a small nod, “Jackson isn’t like any other. He’s not the smartest guy book-wise and one of the most oblivious people I know, but he’s very keen at the same time. I’m sure you know how great of a fencer he is. That’s not based on luck or family heritage alone. He fools around and is obnoxious, sometimes I even want to shut him up, but he knows when to get serious,” Junhui awed, smiling as he spoke, “He’s one of the nicest people I know and I’m not sugarcoating any of this. I mean it 100%.”

Mark let out a soft smile, nodding. He understood that much from what his caretaker had informed him, but hearing it from someone who actually knew Jackson well solidified the person he saw Jackson to be.

“Is he trustworthy?”

Jun laughed quite loud, throwing off Mark as he didn’t expect such a response.

“I’m sorry, I just… I wouldn’t be here right now if Jackson wasn’t trustworthy,” the younger paused a bit, thinking of what to say as he was unsure how to explain it properly, “I told him things about me that would hurt me deeply if they were spread around. I trust that guy with my life.”

“Wow,” was all that Mark was able to say, pursing his lips together as part of him wished for an opposite answer.

The two sat in silence as they drank their drinks with soft piano music and quiet chatter in the background until the younger spoke.

“You know where he is, don’t you?”

Mark nearly choked on his drink and began coughing, shocked that the boy was able to pick up on that.

“Yeah, how do you know?”

“From all the years I’ve been friends with Jackson, I’ve never seen you before and no one else would ask about his personality if they had not recently encountered him.”

“Do you really not know where he is?” Mark asked in disbelief, “You’re his close friend.”

“Nope. I still talk to him from time to time, but he told me he can’t tell anyone and that includes me,” Junhui pouted as he wished to know where his friend was.

“Just jeans and sneakers and a little bit of accessories,” rang Mark’s ringtone.

“Give me one moment,” Mark excused himself and walked to a more private location before answering his phone.

It was one of his father’s men, telling him they needed him at a last minute meeting for something urgent. Mark honestly didn’t want to comply, but of course he had to. He agreed and hung up his phone before coming back to the table.

“Sorry, Junhui. Something urgent came up and I have to leave,” Mark apologized, sipping the last of his drink.

“It’s fine, I understand,” Junhui replied with a smile, “You can leave first, I’m gonna stay for a little bit longer and take a break from all the shopping I’ve done.”

The elder nodded and cleaned up after himself. He told the boy that if they ever meet again, he’ll gladly treat the younger out and Junhui took him up to that promise.

“Wait, Mark,” the Chinese boy called out just as Mark was about to walk away.

“Yeah?” responded the boy, turning around.

 “Jackson really is a great guy. I don’t know why you’re doubting who he is, but you can trust him,” Junhui reassured.

Mark simply agreed before walking away, his heart beating just a little bit faster at the thought that he can maybe trust Jackson.

  


Tuesday came along and Mark drove straight from the airport to school. It was the end of lunch by the time he got to school and him not wanting to go to English Literature class, he decided to stay in the car for the hour instead taking a quick nap. He was really giving up on studying and it was barely August. Amazing.

 

Jackson looked at Mark’s empty seat during lunch. He only saw Jaebum and Jinyoung eating there, joking around just the two of them.

“You said he’d be back today,” Jackson hissed to himself as he glared at their direction.

“Who will be back?” Jinwook questioned as he placed his tray on Jackson’s table. Jackson looked at him, stunned, as the younger sat down and started casually eating.

“Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be with your group of friends?"

“They’re annoying sometimes, I swear I just want to duct tape all of their mouths,” Jinwook scorned before looking at Jackson and giggling, “Thinking about it, it’s kind of funny how there was such a big deal made about you and girls fawn over your looks, but it’s been almost a month and you still sit alone at lunch.”

“I don’t mind,” Jackson said nonchalantly, taking a spoonful of food into his mouth.

The two ate in silence as Jinwook wasn’t sure what to say. He wanted to get to know his teammate more. Just like everyone else in the school, he was curious about Jackson as well. He was just unsure how to start things as he had made it a bit awkward asking his senior all those questions at practice the other day. Instead, he looked around and saw Up10tion being rowdy and annoying as usual. Sure, he loved them a lot, but they took a joke too far which is why he sat next to the senior. He looked at Sooil whose eyes begged the boy to come back, but Jinwook simply stuck his tongue out and laughed. He then caught eyes with his captain who was looking at the boy confusingly as he was with Jackson instead of his friends. He suddenly got an idea on how to start a fun conversation with the new fencer.

“Hey sunbae,” Jinwook called out, grabbing the elder’s attention.

“Hmmgbhhjs?” Jackson mumbled with his mouth full of food.

“You know how the other fencers, well mainly Up10tion, always make fun of Jaebum for missing that one competition? Do you want to hear the story behind it?” giggled Jinwook, only for Jackson to nod in agreement as he chewed his food.

_“They changed the day?” questioned the varsity team in unison as the captain at the time, Minsoo, informed them of the matter._

_Jinwook was one of the few freshmen that got to be in the varsity team, which was quite an accomplishment, along with three other Up10tion members: Sooil, Seongjoon, and Changhyeon. The rest of them were in junior varsity and often whined about the group’s separation. Being at the bottom of the food chain, Jinwook didn’t speak nor sass as much as he wanted to but rather listened and observed instead. It was his first year in high school and it was still a new experience for him so he wanted to soak everything in to prep for the next three years of high school._

_“There was a problem with the facility that is used for regionals on the original day, something like a kids volleyball tournament, I’m not sure; so they changed it, asking all the teams if the new day works for them of course. So we also have to make a decision,” said their coach._

_He wasn’t too worried about the schedule change as he was usually free, but he noticed the way Jaebum shook just a bit, his eyes looking around and about, and him biting his nails that it was a problem. Jinwook, however, didn’t say anything and decided to let it go. Everyone said it was okay with them, but Jaebum never spoke up._

 

_“Where is he?!” yelled Minsoo as the team waited inside the waiting room._

_Jinwook was casually sitting in his seat doing his usual pre-game rituals as he waited for the competition to start. Interrupted by his captain’s outburst, he turned around and looked at Minsoo who was pacing back and forth, his cell phone in his hand probably calling the missing boy, Jaebum, but he was not picking up._

_“He does this shit and he’s gonna be captain?” snarked Jihoon, a junior at the time who was jealous of Jaebum becoming captain as he felt like it should have been him._

_“Hey guys! I got a text from him!” announced Byunghun, allowing the members to circle around him before he read it aloud, “I’m sorry for not saying sooner but I have a family emergency right now and I can’t make it to regionals. I’m so sorry. If you guys see this as irresponsible, mostly as me being captain next year, I understand.”_

_The fencing team stayed quiet and understood the matter, but it didn’t seem particularly true in Jinwook’s eyes as he remembered how the junior acted when the changed date was released. If it was really important, Jaebum could’ve told the team sooner, but the fact that it was last minute means that it’s something that the team would not have accepted as a proper excuse._

“That’s absolutely crazy,” Jackson responded, “Where do you think he actually went?”

“I heard a rumor that he was actually at a musical that day with Youngjae. Well, it was from Gyujin who was in the junior varsity fencing team at the time and he didn’t have to go to the competition. It was only a glimpse though, the guy was wearing a mask and a cap so he wasn’t 100% sure it was him. Youngjae, for a fact, was there as everyone recognized the upcoming ASB president. Gyujin even said he saw Jaebum and Youngjae holding hands as they watched the musical, but who knows,” the sophomore gossiped, his volume level really low.

“He’s gay? They’re dating?” loudly whispered Jackson in shock.

 _Maybe that’s why he told the teachers about Bangtan that one day and wasn’t appalled by Yugyeom and Bambam._  

“I doubt it honestly from what I know about the two and the fact that Gyujin loves to stretch the truth. But at the same time, if they were gay for anyone, it would be each other. The two are almost inseparable, well, not right now because the two are apparently fighting,” the sophomore remarked as he looked at Youngjae sitting with the soccer players, “But they weren’t at the time, which is why I believe that if Gyujin saw Youngjae there with someone, it must have been Jaebum.”

“Is that why you guys don’t really respect him as captain?” Jackson asked, earning a small laugh from the younger.

“Yeah, but I mean, we respect him a bit just because of the Korean age system and the fact that we all love fencing and don’t want to cause too much trouble. It’s just nothing like how the swimmers respect Mark, the water polo players respect Peniel, y’know,” the sophomore shrugged, not caring a bit.

“I get it. If I went through that, I wouldn’t respect him much either, but since I wasn’t here then I can’t really say anything. I do, however, have a feeling that Jaebum doesn’t like me too much.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it was true honestly,” Jinwook replied, finishing the last bite of his food.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, Jaebum is a very competitive person and it shows more than most people. So you coming out of nowhere, particularly as a senior since transferring as a senior into a varsity team is notably hard here, is probably making him nervous. He wants to be the best and will do anything to get there. This part of his personality is also why I don’t understand why he skipped regionals,” Jinwook described, looking at his captain as he talked who was fooling around with Jinyoung.

“It makes me scared every time he speaks to me honestly,” Jackson said, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

“Don’t be scared! I’ll protect you by sassing him just as usual!” Jinwook exclaimed, patting his chest and giving a thumbs up to Jackson.

“Okay, okay, if you say so,” Jackson agreed, touched by the cute sophomore’s words.

The bell rang and the two parted ways to their next class. Jackson couldn’t help but smile afterwards because of Jinwook. The sophomore, on the other hand, was pulled aside by Jaebum as their classes were right next to each other.

“What were you doing hanging out with Jackson?” the captain roughly grabbed onto Jinwook.

“I just wanted to talk to him, the fuck. He’s a nice guy. Who are you to say who I should be friends with, especially a teammate?” Jinwook sassed, trying to push Jaebum’s grip off of him, but it wouldn’t budge.

“I swear to God, Jinwook. If you feed him false information or do anything, I wil--”

“If you had nothing to hide, you wouldn’t be acting this way. But you do, which is quite hilarious,” Jinwook scoffed, pushing the senior with all his might away and sped off.

Jaebum cracked his neck and sighed deeply. He hated the fact that Jinwook acted this way towards him and he knew it was because of regionals. Despite how all the sophomore fencers teased and joked around with him, there was something different with the way Jinwook treated Jaebum and he felt it. He also knew that the sophomore knew something after hearing him gossip to Sooil.

_“Did one of the kids tell you about what they saw the other day?” asked Jinwook to Sooil as the two were changing in the locker room, thought to be alone as they came late after finishing a test._

_Jaebum was already changed , but he went back to the locker room to grab something he forgot in his locker. He heard the two underclassmen speaking and didn’t want to interrupt them, so he eavesdropped instead, which probably wasn’t the best idea in retrospect._

_“What happened? They always tell you first and you know that!” Sooil whined._

_“Remember how Jaebum didn’t come to regionals? One of them said they may have saw him at a musical, so chances are he lied about a family emergency. Fucking pathetic,” spat Jinwook._

_“Are you sure? What if they’re lying? You know how much they love to stretch the truth and gossip,” Sooil pressed._

_“Why would they lie about it? At the time, they didn’t even know Jaebum didn’t show up to the competition.”_

_“Whatever, we’ll talk to them after practice. Let’s go; we’re already late,” Sooil said as he pushed Jinwook forward._

_Jaebum hid behind one of the lockers as the two passed. Luckily, they didn’t notice him, but he couldn’t help but feel burdened by what he just heard._

The senior walked into his last class and sighed as he looked at Youngjae who moved to the seat next to Daehyun, one of his soccer mates, since he and Jaebum were still fighting.

_I did that for you and yet look at us now._

Jaebum put his head on his desk and took a nap. He heard his teacher yelling at him, but he didn’t care. He didn’t want to pay attention to class nor want to have his feelings at the moment destroy his insides.

The boy didn't notice, but Youngjae kept looking back at Jaebum from time to time, worried.

  


Mark woke up to the faint sound of the bell signalling it was the end of the last class and time for sports period. He had already changed into his athletic clothing before he slept so he simply grabbed his duffel bag and dragged himself to the locker room.

“Mark hyung, you’re back!” yelled Jaehyung as he ran up to the still sleepy boy.

“Yes,” Mark groggily replied, rubbing his eyes, “Sorry for being absent without giving you guys a heads up. It was a last minute emergency.”

“Don’t leave us again!” whimpered Dowoon as he clung onto Mark, “Jinyoung hyung is scary! He had a whistle!”

Jinyoung pouted at Mark, a bit hurt by the sophomore’s words even though he knew he was a bit harsh towards them.

“I’m sure it’s because you guys weren’t paying attention to him as well as you should’ve,” the captain chuckled, ruffling Dowoon’s hair, “He’s vice captain for a reason. Listen to him.”

The members grumbled slightly at Mark’s nagging, but the Taiwanese boy didn’t seem to mind much. Jinyoung looked at the time, realizing they were supposed to start 10 minutes ago and blew his whistle to get everyone’s attention.“Alright, let’s start!” The swim team groaned and reluctantly started stretching. Jinyoung stood right next to Mark and smiled.

“I was a bit worried when you didn’t show up to class since I heard you were coming back today,” whispered Jinyoung into Mark’s ear, “Why didn’t you show up to class?”

“I didn’t want to go to class honestly,” groaned Mark, “It’s senior year. I don’t want to care about English Literature or Korean Government or any of the subjects for that matter. I’m so tired of studying and school.”

“Not like you pay attention in any of your classes anyway. It’s all just nap time to you,” the vice captain remarked.

Jinyoung laughed at Mark and the two went silent as they focused on practice. It was extremely nice for the captain to get back in the water as he missed it for the past couple of days. He felt all the stress from his trip unwind as soon as he started swimming. It was his bliss.

 

Jackson walked back to his dorm after practice, not bothering to check the pool if Mark had come back as he was sure that Jinyoung lied to him after not seeing Mark at lunch.

“I’m glad Mark’s back. He’s so much better than Jinyoung,” giggled one of the swimmers as they walked to the front of the school after practice.

_So, he is back? Jinyoung wasn’t lying?_

The fencer ran straight back to the pool, only to bump into someone on the way, specifically straight into their chest.

“Woah, slow down buddy.”

Jackson looked up and saw that he had bumped into the person he was looking for, Mark. Once Mark realized it was Jackson who had bumped into him, he backed away and put on a small smile.

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you. Let’s go somewhere a little more private than a hallway.”

 

The fencer simply agreed and then there they were… in Jackson’s dorm.

It was the most awkward thing ever as the two went through a bit of sticky situation last time they saw each other, but Jackson couldn’t think of anywhere more private than his own room. Mark was simply sitting on Jackson’s bed, crossed legs and looking around. Luckily, the boy cleaned his room over the weekend. However, Jackson would have never expected something like this to happen with Mark so soon, even if they weren’t actually doing anything, but it did.

“So… what did you want to talk about?” Jackson tried his hardest not to stare too long at Mark and his delicate features.

_Why is my heart beating so rapidly? I don’t normally feel this shy and awkward, especially around a guy._

_But he’s so nice to look at._

Mark failed to notice Jackson’s anxiety. Instead, he thought about how to respond, pursing his lips together, his finger slightly touching his bottom lip as he hummed softly. In the end, he simply held out his hand toward the fencer and got straight to the point.

“Let’s be friends.”

  
  
  


Mark drove home that night in a pretty good mood, only to walk out of his car and see a police officer at his doorstep. Once the officer noticed that he had come home, the Taiwanese boy simply bowed before him, who unpleasantly smiled at him.

“Is there something wrong, officer?” questioned Mark in a formal tone.

“The police heard from the school that you were out of town, but we tried calling you on the cell phone you had given them, but there was no response, so I had to wait for you to come home.”

_That’s what I forgot at home. I knew I forgot something._

Mark had two phones just in case. One for personal use, which is was the number he gave to the school, and one for business, which is the only one he remembered to bring.

“Ah yes, I’m sorry about that. I guess I left my cell phone at home. I’m sorry for having you wait when you could’ve been doing your job at the station,” Mark politely apologized, “So what is it that you have to tell me?”

“Someone broke into your house again.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHH YES. This fic is now caught up with the version on AFF. I'm sorry if it took a while for me to update as it would slip my mind... often. LOL. With AP exams and finals, I can't guarantee when the next chapter will be posted, but hopefully soon? Thank you for giving so much love to this fic. c:


	9. Floating

 

“Let’s be friends.”

There was a silence for a couple moments, but it was followed by a loud obnoxious laugh, Jackson’s. Mark looks at him in shock, not expecting such a response.

“What? Why are you laughing?” Mark asked, worried he said the wrong thing.

Jackson kept laughing, holding his stomach. It took a while for him to calm down, but eventually, he did.

“Nothing, I just…” he pursed his lips, suppressing his giggle, “You’re not good at this, aren’t you? Because geez, that was unbelievably awkward.”

Mark put his hands to his face, covering his flushed cheeks. It was true. He didn’t have many friends and the friendships he had started off more spontaneously than how it was going with Jackson.

“Why do you want to be friends with me?” Jackson quieted down.

The swimmer looked through the spaces in between his fingers to see the other looking at the ground, biting his lower lip. He thought of all the interactions they had together, the information he found about the other, but most importantly the odd feeling Jackson gave him.

“Do I need a reason?” he dryly chuckled, not wanting to reveal anything.

“I guess not,” Jackson commented, “I must be that stunning and amazing for someone like you to want to be friends with me.”

The other looked at the floor and shook his head in embarrassment as Jackson showed no shame with his words as his hands were on his hips with a big smirk on his face,

“So yeah? Friends?” Mark offered, holding out his hand once again after recollecting himself.

Jackson held out his hand, but thought for a moment and put his hand back down, pursing his lips as he looked at the other awkwardly.

“I have two things first. If that’s okay with you.”

“What are they?” Mark asked, looking at him curiously, “I swear to god, if it’s something ridiculous like f--”

“How did you find out about my other name?” questioned Jackson with a blank stare in his eyes, making the other jump just a bit.

“I… you don’t need to worry about it. No one else has the resources that I do to find out,” the other reassured with a light smile.

Jackson pursed his lips, wanting to say something as he was still curious to how the other found out, but decided against it and let out a small sigh.

“And second? Is it perhaps you want to know my secret?” the swimmer asked on a whim as nothing else popped into his mind on what it could be, but the other shook his head.

“Teach me how to swim.”

Mark furrowed his eyebrows, confused at why the other would want to learn how to swim. He considered asking, but in the end he sighed and softly smiled at Jackson, who looked a bit tense waiting for an answer.

“Okay.”  

  


“Someone broke into your house again."

“When? Did they steal anything?” Mark’s eyes widened as he asked, his mind scrambling about what was important in his house that could have been stolen.

“Just last night. We checked the CCTV and there doesn’t seem to be much as they tried entering your room, but once the alarm was set off, the culprit ran away. You can check and make sure nothing has been stolen and file a report if necessary.”

Mark simply nodded, understanding the situation as attempted burglaries had happened to him before. Usually, they were people who followed him around after doing his father’s business that realized he was wealthy. The culprits were usually clumsy and eventually caught. But none of them went into Mark’s room, or at least tried to. There were already enough valuables in the living room to choose from that burglars usually took what they found there.

The officer had him sign a paper before leaving. Mark waved the officer goodbye and waited for the police car to be out of sight before walking away. The boy went to look around his house, checking to see if anything seemed suspicious. However, everything seemed intact, even the money that he accidentally left on the counter from the time he ordered for pizza delivery was still there. Pursing his lips, he walked up into his room and opened his desktop to watch the CCTV where he spotted something unusual.

If Mark rewinded back to the night before the burglary, the cameras outside his house were tempered with so that he couldn’t see how the person entered the building. Mark went to the night of the burglary and saw how the culprit easily walked in and went straight to his room, trying to open it, but was locked with a fingerprint lock. After slamming on the door a few times, the alarm sounded and the suspicious figure quickly left the scene.

After watching the footage, Mark walked to the front door and looked at the knob, which looked absolutely normal. The culprit didn’t need to break it or anything, which either meant he was a good lockpicker or he had a key himself.

_I gotta get better security for this place, especially for when I’m gone._

  


Jinyoung looked through his window from the room and watched Mark come home and his interaction with the police officer. He took a sip of his tea before leaning back in his chair. A deep sigh left his lips as he swallowed the beverage.

“That expensive car is back too.”

He grabbed his pencil and wrote a small note on his notebook before closing it. He got up out of his chair and looked out the window once more, deciding to get some sleep soon after.

“I’m so close that I can taste it.”

  


The following day, Jackson was told that there was no extended practice for the swim team, via a text from Mark that was as emotionless as could get. He felt jittery throughout the entire school day, but once he saw how excited Jaebum looked to start fencing, he started to worry.

“Tomorrow is the day!” Jaebum yelled, letting out a grunt in excitement. He then looked towards their fencing coach who seemed all but amused.

“Control yourself, captain.”

Jackson looked at everyone who all seemed about bored with conditioning every single day, but noticed how much more toned each member looked, including himself, he’d like to admit. Jaebum’s muscles were more than noticeable in his tank top that Jackson assumed he wore for the reason of showing off his developed arms. It was something he would also totally do. Flexing as he crossed his arms, doing heavy work activities to show that he can handle it, all of the sort. He was the best when it came to bluffing, but not in this mind set. He tried his best to look and be excited, hoping no one would see right through him.

Jinwook and Jaebum saw right through him, however.

“Since it’s our last day of conditioning, lets have a contest.”

Jaebum smirked and the others groaned, but at this point, he was used to it. He just wanted to see a little bit of Jackson’s limits. If for some chance, Jaebum couldn’t beat Jackson in fencing, he at least wanted to be able to have more physical stamina than the other.

The rules were simple. The whole fencing team did wall sits and whoever was the last one “sitting” won the contest and got to skip the day’s practice. The reward was what gets everyone riled up and willing to play along.

The first minute passed by and no one moved. Everyone stayed silent as they were all trying to concentrate, but one by one, people started dropping out until it was left to the three “J”s; Jackson, Jaebum, and Jinwook.

Up10tion was wildly yelling for Jinwook, irritating the captain as he resisted the urge not to get up and punch each of them to shut them up.

“BE QUIET,” he yelled, sweat pouring down his face.

The members quieted down and soon enough, Jinwook dropped out, but whispered “good luck” to Jackson before walking to his group of friends who were upset that their friend couldn’t win the prize.

Jaebum looked at the ground and tried his hardest to focus but he could feel the weight of his body sink and his thighs giving in on him. This was more than just skipping out practice to him, but it was his pride. He wanted to win and beat Jackson every chance he could get.

That’s why it killed him as his butt hit the soft cushion of the mat. His head rested on the wall in defeat as he sighed heavily.

“I guess we tied, hm?”

Jaebum looked at the other and saw that he was sitting down. With a pain in his legs, he managed to get up and try his best to play it off.

“I guess so,” he nodded, “You can take the day off. I should probably stay for the rest of the kids.”

Jackson smiled softly before walking back to the locker room. The other fencers weren’t paying attention to them anyway, so he didn’t bother to say goodbye either. He dressed out of his clothes that barely had any sweat on them and decided to take a quick power nap before going to the pool.

 

Jackson had watched as Jaebum fell to the ground. He had enough strength in his thighs to last another thirty seconds or so, but he noticed as the captain kept his eyes closed, obviously frustrated so he sunk to the ground and called it a tie.

He thought no one noticed, but of course, Jinwook did.

 

_“Jackson! Wake up! Jackson! Who did this to you?”_

Jackson woke up from his nap in cold sweat. It was like he was being shaken from the hard ground just like that day, but he looked around, and thankfully he was in bed.

It wasn’t always that Jackson woke up from the yelling of his manager, but it sure got him up. The fencer clenched his fist as he tried to relax breathing in and out.

_It’s okay, Jackson. You can overcome this._

The boy looked at the time and quickly grabbed his stuff, heading to the pool.

 

_I want to do that._

Jackson opened the doors to the pool only to see Mark simply floating on his back. His eyes were closed and his face looked relaxed. The whole image was peaceful, but the other ruined it as he ran down the stairs in a loud manner as the excitement of learning to swim filled him.

“I’m here!” yelled Jackson as he got to the ground floor.

“You didn’t have to say so as your entrance couldn’t be any louder,” Mark chuckled as he stood up.

The swimmer moved over to the edge of the water and pushed up his body out of the pool. Standing up, he looked at the other’s attire which was a white fitted exercise shirt and gray basketball shorts. He pressed his lips together in thought and the other stood awkwardly.

“I guess that’ll do,” he muttered, “Are you ready to go in?”

Jackson nodded softly. Mark smiled and grabbed his hand, escorting the other to the shallower pool. The shallower pool was in a room off to the side of the main swimming pool. It was where private swimming lessons took place for children whose parents wanted them to learn how to swim and maybe to a more competitive level. The two walked down the steps in the pool and stopped where the water was right below their pecs.

_“What the fuck did I tell you, Jackson!?”_

A piercing sound struck Jackson’s ear and he cringed as he turned away from the other, trying his best to handle the situation, holding onto his head tightly as he endured the pain. He closed his eyes and bit his lip as he begged for it to stop.

“Jackson, are you okay?”

Jackson took a few moments to relax as the screech started to slowly dull. He turned around and smiled at the other, promising that he was okay and willing to start whatever the lesson was for today, but he couldn’t ignore the fact that his vision was starting to get a little fuzzy.

“Most kids learn how to kick and blow bubbles under the water when they first learn how to swim, but I feel like floating is most important, so I’m going to teach you that first. So, okay, I learned how to explain this online because for me, it came naturally so I never got the proper explanation.”

Mark placed one of his hands on the other’s shoulder and the other in the center of his back, causing Jackson to feel just a little bit more nervous than usual. He blinked several times, hoping to get his vision back to normal but it was no use.

“So first we’re going to inhale and exhale to calm ourselves down, can you do that for me?”

Mark inhaled and exhaled sharply, making it audible so Jackson could follow along. He could feel his body expanding as Jackson exhaled and compressing as he exhaled. Jackson closed his eyes and tried to focus and not shake.

“Lean back and gently press your weight onto your shoulder blades. Don’t worry about sinking, I’m right here as your safety net, okay?”

Jackson slowly began to lean back and one of Mark’s hands was gently pushing him back as the other was holding onto him tightly, making sure the other didn’t fall.

“Let your head relax into the water. Pretend like you’re resting your head on a pillow. Press the top of your hands into the water as well.”

The fencer’s eyes remained closed throughout the whole process, but surely enough, with the help of Mark, he was floating in the water. Mark watched the other carefully, and slowly let the other go as he felt that Jackson could support himself floating.

_“I told you to leave this sport, didn’t I? Why the fuck did you compete today?!”_

_The owner of the voice slapped Jackson across the face, knocking his head sideways. He was unable to even fend for himself as his arms were held tightly by two other people. He tried squirming out of their grip, but they wouldn’t budge._

_“I’m sorry! Please, can we stop?!” Jackson pleaded desperately, tears forming in his eyes._

_“Now that just wouldn’t be fun.”_

_The person slapped him even harder, leaving a red mark on his face. The impact bursted his ears as well as left a lasting sting. He could almost feel his neck crack as his head sharply turned sideways with the slap. Jackson, however, sunk his head right after, looking at the floor as he felt absolutely helpless at this point._

_“Lift your head up,” the person gritted through his teeth, “Lift your head up just as you do every fucking time!”_

_Jackson slowly lifted up his face, glaring at his abuser as he bit his lip only to be caught off guard as he received a kick to the stomach. He contracted his abdominal muscles as he balled up his fists, but it meant nothing as he could still feel the clash of the other’s foot and his gut. His breath instantly left him and he gasped for air as the impact forcefully pushed the air out of his lungs. He could taste the vomit coming up his throat, but he quickly swallowed it down and spat on the ground instead._

_The ones holding him lifted Jackson up as he had no more strength to hold up his body as he winced in the pain. The perpetrator kept going as his fist swiftly contacted the fencer’s jaw. He could hear it loud in his ears, like a quick boom. His ears were ringing, but what was more apparent was the huge throb of pain he felt on the side of his head. He wiggled his teeth with his tongue, hoping for no loose teeth, but luckily finding none._

_“How does it feel to get beaten over something you love?” the attacker chuckled, “Just wait until I bring out your favorite toy in the world.”_

“Jackson?! Jackson!”

The fencer’s eyes fluttered open and he was just where he remembered he was: in the pool, learning how to float, in Mark’s arms. Jackson laid there breathless for a moment, overcome with emotions as the flashback felt like a reality. His heart was still beating rapidly and he simply stared at Mark, words failing to leave his lips.

“Are you okay? I let you go for one moment because I thought you could handle it and you started to sink. You screamed ‘I’m sorry’ and held onto me tightly as I tried to pick you back up. I was so shoc--”

Jackson leaned his head back into the water, just as he was taught, but his grip on Mark’s arms stayed apparent. He tightly closed his eyes as he softly cried. His tears could be easily mistaken for water.

“Just stay like this for a while,” he mumbled, “Keep me afloat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update. I'm officially on summer vacation (and I graduate tomorrow wooh) until September so I'll try to update more. Thanks for the support!


	10. Upward

      “Jackson! Wake up! Jackson! Who did this to you?”

  
Jackson woke up once again in cold sweat from the same words. Immediately, he sat up and looked blankly at the wall, still trying to comprehend what had happened last night. He wasn’t sure what he saw, what he felt, because he couldn’t remember anything like that happening to him before. The almighty Jackson of his past never got beat up, right?

  
It was all in my head. That can’t be real.

  
The scene replayed in his head and at the moment, it felt so real. He could feel the pain of each impact, but yet, there was no scarring on his face and the fact that he was in Mark’s arms right after was more than enough to convince him that it was just his brain making up things. It wasn’t true. He told himself that several times, but a part of him still continued to doubt.

  
Ding.

  
Jackson looked at his phone, only to see two missed calls from Mark and a recent text.

  
**Cool Swim Captain, 7:01AM**  
I don’t know what happened last night at the pool, but if you can’t continue this swimming thing. I understand.

  
**Jackson Wang, 7:02AM**  
I’ll let you know.

  
Jackson wanted to learn more, but at the same time he needed time to understand what happened. If this vision was a past reality, a future reality, or pure fiction. In his head, the abuser and his accomplices’ faces and voices were distorted. He couldn’t connect them to anyone he knew, which worried him. The more he thought about the incident, the more fuzzy their identities were. Considering their words, Jackson knew they were fencers, but with how much skill Jackson had as a player, he was a threat to anyone, which meant these people could be anyone.

  
But that would mean that this was reality, a flashback.

For the whole school day, Jackson was completely out of it. His mind kept going blank during his classes, causing all of his teachers to yell at him at some point to pay attention. He just couldn’t stop thinking. The same went for Mark. The swim captain obviously couldn’t sleep as well due to the previous night’s incident, which was why he was able to text the other an hour before the original time he would wake up.

  
There was something about Jackson last night that sent chills down Mark’s spine. He couldn’t describe it in words. He felt like he had some sort of connection with the other at that moment. Something about him seemed familiar but he couldn’t understand why. There was no connection between them last time Mark checked, and he checked thoroughly.

  
So why was this bugging him so much?

      “Today is the day!”

  
Jaebum yelled loudly as he walked into the sweaty locker room. He patted his teammates’ shoulders, giving a special one to Jackson as he had a feeling today would be a good day to possibly expose whatever the other may be hiding.

  
Jackson had completely forgot that today was the start of practice and he felt even more burden on his heart because of it. He couldn’t let anyone know about his condition, but he ran out of time and this was it. People were going to know that Jackson Wang, the Hong Kong fencer, cannot pick up a sabre.  
He could see it now. Everyone laughing at him in the whole school, posting it on social media and making him the biggest laughing stock of the fencing community. He would never be able to professionally fence and he wouldn’t be able to play the sport he loved the most.

  
      “Hurry up!”

  
Jinwook patted Jackson on the back, making the other realize that he was the last one in the locker room and wasn’t even fully dressed. Jackson quickly changed into his sports attire and ran to the fencing area.

The team stood in a straight line as usual, organized by what weapon they played with. Jackson stood at the edge, the last of the sabre group.

  
      “Alright!” Jaebum yelled in a clear voice, “This is the day we’ve been waiting for. The day that starts the beginning of a new season because let's all be real. Conditioning for a month doesn’t count as much.”

Jackson shook in fear. This was the moment he was going to be exposed as the failure he is, not the superstar Hong Kong national fencer. That wasn’t him anymore and every day he was losing hope that he was going to be that person again.

Jaebum walked, in front of each member, staring straight into their soul but stopping at Jackson and grinning mischievously. He tapped the other’s shoulder innocently, but Jackson knew his intentions.  
      

      “I’m especially excited for you,” he whispered before going off to get the practice weapons.

The Chinese male’s thoughts went wild as he thought of all the possible scenarios of the fencing team’s reactions once they found out about his trauma. He expected laughing, joking, bullying, it blowing up on social media, everything. He couldn’t handle the humiliation and suddenly his legs gave out and he was crouching on the floor, covering his ears because he could already hear everyone calling him a failure, especially the prominent voice of his father.

      “Jackson Wang, is there something wrong?”

No response.

      “Jackson Wang!” Jaebum yelled louder, getting his attention as he quickly stood up. “Is there something wrong that you’re not telling us?”

Jackson looked at the ground, not knowing what to say or how to explain himself. He couldn’t just simply say that he can’t fence and he’s a waste of space to the fencing team, no. There was still that pride in him that couldn’t allow that.

      “Look at your captain when he speaks to you,” Jaebum hissed with a firm tone, “Do you not respect me?”

Jaebum glared at the other, startling Jackson just a tad as he looked up. There was such a difference from how Jackson knew and wanted to act to how he was acting. He couldn’t help himself to be what he hated the most, weak.

      “I respect you. Don’t worry about that. Go pass out the weapons now since you’ve been so excited about it,” he responded, trying his best not to give attitude to the burdensome captain.

Jaebum scoffed as he looked the other up and down before walking to the front of the line and passing out the weapons, not having the time to scold the other more.

It felt like an impending doom, a ticking time bomb. His heart was racing as he watched as everyone was handed a weapon by the captain and luckily, he was the last in line, giving him a few moments to spare. But then again, that allowed more time for his thoughts to consume him.

  _“I told you to leave this sport, didn’t I?”_

Jackson held his ear in pain as the voice along with a sharp loud screech rang in his ears. He tried not to show pain other than that with the fact that Jaebum was already on his case.

_“Why don’t you fucking listen?”_

He bit his lip as he saw as Jaebum was right next to him, giving a sabre to the person next to him. The screeching was still apparent and his ears hurt. The pain in his gut from the previous night came back and he just couldn’t make sense of it all.

      “Jackson Wang. Hands out.”

Jackson looked at the captain hesitantly before holding out his hands, ready for the same reaction to happen every time he held a sabre. He noticed that there was a small smirk on Jaebum’s face, anticipating as if he already knew what was going to happen.

      “Jackson Wang, I need you in my office right now!” barged in Mr. Park with impeccable timing.

The principal grabbed the foreign member as soon as he spotted him in line, but Jackson remained shocked even as he was pulled away because right before he came in, the sabre was placed into his hands just fine.

 

      “Why did you need me in your office, Mr. Park?”

Jackson sat in one of the chairs in the principal’s office, still looking at his hands in amazement and unable to notice how stressed the other was.

      “Because of your condition! We can’t let them know about it, so for now we can maybe say you violated some rules and have to do some chores with me, and the--”

      “Mr. Park, I held the sabre just now.”

The principal stopped pacing back and forth in frustration to look at the other with a confused face.

      “How? What? Are you serious?”

Jackson looked up at the elder and shrugged his shoulders.

      “I don’t know. I’m sure I still can’t play, but it’s a step in progress, right?”

      “Right,” the principal nodded, “We’re gonna make the most of this new development. I’ll try working with you and see how that works. Maybe you’ll be able to play. Perfect.”

 

      “Mark! Mark!”

Mark couldn’t focus properly at practice due to last night. There was something about how Jackson reacted that sent chills down his spin. Jinyoung was tired of Mark spacing out at this point. They needed to be serious about practicing. They had to be the best in Jinyoung’s eyes. Or at least he had to be the best, but he couldn’t with his captain not leading the group properly.

      “Huh? What? I’m sorry. What’s going on?” Mark asked cluelessly, causing Jinyoung to sigh.

      “We were waiting for instructions from you. The team just finished all the warm up exercises,” Jinyoung replied his best without giving sarcasm.

      “Mmm, okay. I guess we can start doing one on one matches.”

Mark grabbed the stopwatch and regained his focus, timing each of the members as they swam against each other. He wished he could be doing it as well, but with responsibilities as captain, he did most of his practice after hours, which was a nuisance but if it was for JY’s swim team, then it was for JY’s swim team.

The swim team wasn’t known to be the best, if they were honest. The school was known for fencing, taekwondo, and archery. Everyone who wasn’t in those three sports faced a lot of pressure. Yes, swimming was coming along there, but with their current number one swimmer that has yet to compete in a national match due to the flu and strep throat, there was a slight dip to their team’s strength that water polo pulled through and became the fourth best sport, obviously causing more stress on Mark’s part due to Mark and Peniel’s problems.

There was a lot of stress as a captain at one of the top sports centered schools in the world if it didn’t seem like it already. Mark never wanted to be captain. He didn’t feel like he had the leadership skills or even the speaking skills to do so. Swimming was his passion and he excelled at it greatly, but he never saw himself to be the team’s leader. He always felt like that would be something Jinyoung would do. Ever since the day Mark met Jinyoung, the boy radiated with love for the sport and talked well amongst other people. He was always the one who planned all of their hangouts, the one who would lead the group and everything. Until the moment Mark was made swim captain, Mark for sure thought Jinyoung would be the next.

       _“Since I am graduating soon, I figured today would be a good time to announce the next captain,” Ok Taecyeon announced as they were almost done with practice, “I thought about this long and hard. I promise you. This was quite a difficult decision I had to make, but I have decided that the next swim captain for JY Pro-sports Academy is…”_

_Jinyoung stood in anticipation, having a feeling it would be him. On the other hand, Mark was tilting his head to the side and smacking it, trying to get the water out of his ear, obviously not interested with what was going on._

_“Mark Tuan! You’re the new captain!”_

_Everyone in the team looked at Mark and Mark blinked at the captain, confused because it wasn’t supposed to be him. Taecyeon encouraged him to come closer_

_“Wait? Why me? I don’t understand.”_

_“You’re one of the best swimmers and I see potential in you as a leader,” Taecyeon smiles at the other before looking to the rest of the team, “Well here’s your next swim captain, give him a hand.”_

_“Ahh, yes thank you,” Mark shyly responded as the team applauded._

_What he didn’t notice at the time due to being overwhelmed by the sudden news was Jinyoung walking off angrily, mumbling to himself that that should have been him._

The rest of practice went by somewhat more smoothly, but Jinyoung was quite irritable at how Mark was spacing out. Mark was quick to notice these things, so he decided to give the other some space and tried to go back home alone, but Jinyoung’s mom was quick to spot him as soon as he walked out of the school building.

      “Mark! I’ll take you home along with Jinyoung!” she yelled as she honked.

      “No, it’s okay, Mrs. Park. I can walk,” he said as he walked toward the car, shaking his head in refusal.

      “Don’t be shy. Come on. You’re not going to win this battle.”

She was right. Jinyoung’s mother was one of the most stubborn people Mark had ever met and so he opened the door to the car and sat inside as they waited for Jinyoung who was soon to come out. However, once he saw Mark in the car, his face went slightly sour.

      “Mom, I- uh, have to go with Jaehyung for something. I’ll be back before dinner. I promise.”

      “Oh really? Well, okay then. I’ll see you at home.”

Jinyoung’s mom waited for her son to drive off in Jaehyung’s car before driving away to their neighborhood. Mark was hoping for some peace and quiet, but that would never happen with Mrs. Park.

      “You know, Mark. When you got Jinyoung to be vice-captain, he was sooo happy. He came back home that day and had such a bright smile on his face, brighter than usual. Thank you for not just this, but all the time you’ve spent with him since you got here. I was always worried he wouldn’t make much friends, but now look at him, going off with that Jaehyung boy instead of going straight home, spending long hours at school with a team he can call a second family, having you, Youngjae, and Jaebum together as a group. It makes me so happy seeing him grow up so well.”

Mark listened carefully as Mrs. Park, always feeling in debt to her for all that she had done for her so hearing what she had to say felt necessary. He knew how much Jinyoung meant to his mom and how she viewed him as a perfect child. It was heartwarming to hear and in the process he missed his own family despite how different it worked for him.

      “Thank you for the ride. Stay safe,” he says as he waves goodbye before getting into his house.

      “Anytime, Mark. Anytime.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok honestly i kinda lost my motivation for this but i was able to muster something together. i'm not 100% satisfied with how i wrote this update, but i hope you still liked it. i ended it more on a positive note, bc next chapter (whenever the heck that'll be posted) is gonna focus more on 2jae's story. thanks for reading everyone


	11. More Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I haven't updated in a while, here is a summary of what happened before this chapter. https://docs.google.com/document/d/13OoBGX86NiSk0URVFzXajLI1AeWyBYNG8IRrjxVtHqk/edit?usp=sharing

Jaebum and Youngjae were the school’s most known dynamic duo. Despite being in different sports, the two were always seen next to each other during their spare time. They were really close as people could see, but it wasn’t exactly like that on the inside. With the ongoing fight, they were hardly talking. Youngjae knew deep inside that he shouldn’t be upset at Jaebum, but he was. Despite having his own secrets from the other, he hated how he could easily spot his boyfriend’s and hate how there just wasn’t enough trust in the relationship where they could tell each other everything. That was not how a relationship worked, but apparently that was the reality for the two of them. 

 

Knowing very well that Jaebum was going to be busy over the weekend, Youngjae decided to head to heart of Seoul, as he usually did when he was not crammed with practice, schoolwork, or student council duties. He quickly lied to his mother that he was going to practice and texted Jaebum, in case he was to look for him, that he was not going to be able to see him for today, which was not a lie but there was just omitted information. 

Youngjae quickly put on his floppy hat that covered his face in an artistic and appealing way. Once in Hongdae, he would meet with one of his friends who would give him all that he would need to play out in the streets. His name was Kyungsoo and their friendship was completely platonic, but Youngjae was more than grateful to have his help when he wanted to what he loved. The two met when they were fighting over the same spot to perform and then ended up having a sing off which later led to them quickly tiring out and getting to know each other through a cup of coffee. 

He would set up at any spot and simply perform. There was no set structure to it. Whatever he wanted to sing, he sang. Whatever he wanted to play, he played. It made him feel content with his life. Throughout all the stress in his life, he knew he could rely on performing to make him feel at peace. Sure, there was also Jaebum to rely on, but during instances like now where they were in a fight, he especially needed music more than ever. A crowd would usually come and listen to him. There were also some regulars that he noticed that would come as much as they could to listen to his voice, sometimes even leaving little fan notes in his jar saying how much they liked him which was heartwarming. People often gave money in his jar which he would use to pay back Kyungsoo or if there was even a surplus, save for his dates with Jaebum. 

     “Why do you go to a sports high school when you have such an amazing voice?” Kyungsoo commented as the two cleaned up the equipment after a long day of performing.

     “Hey! I play soccer pretty well too! You just haven’t seen me play,” he laughs, “You might think I’m lying, but God blessed me with too many skills. It’s so unfair for everyone else, I know.” 

     “Whatever you say, Youngjae,” he laughed as he rolled his eyes, “I’d love to see you play one day though. Invite me to one of your games!”

     “Hmm, sure! I’ll let you know,” he grins. 

Once they finished cleaning up, Youngjae sent his regards before heading back home. He checked his phone and there was a simple, “ah okay,” from Jaebum, knowing there wasn’t more because they still were not talking much. As they were still dating, they still updated each other on their whereabouts. By the time Youngjae got back home, there was cold food waiting for him at the dining table that he quickly ate. Then, he finished some assignments and headed to bed. This was his routine that Jaebum knew nothing about, his own secret. 

There was nothing wrong with telling Jaebum, of course. He just felt like Jaebum would overreact and nag him to use the time to work on his responsibilities, soccer and ASB. It was already enough that Jaebum nagged him to not study so much and practice more instead. He wasn’t like Jaebum where he could dedicate his whole life to his sport. He wanted to experience more than that and his boyfriend didn’t understand that. Youngjae wasn’t even sure if Jaebum even heard him sing before and he was fine with keeping it that way for now. 

  
  


Without fencing, Jaebum believed he wouldn’t be the person that he was today. He spent almost every waking minute practicing and striving to get better. He not only felt the want to become better, but also the need to get better. This dream of his started with his brother, Jaehyun. 

Jaehyun was several years older than Jaebum and he was the one that Jaebum looked up to the most. His parents would always boast about how amazing his brother was and praise him a million times. Every time that Jaebum was a witness to his parents’ love for Jaehyun, his eyes would sparkle and he knew he wanted to be just like his older brother. 

Jaebum watched his brother fence a couple of times and loved it. He fell in love with how the sound of metal clashing and all of the movement to avoid the touch of the blade. It was also amazing how Jaehyun was practically undefeated and his skill showed through his performance. Jaebum wanted to be that. He wanted to be a phenomenal fencer just like him.  

_      “Hyungie! What time is your match? I want to come!” Jaebum asked the night before, he was only nine at the time.  _

_      “It’s during the time you have class, Jae,” the elder ruffled his younger bro’s hair, “if I make finals though, I think you and mom might be able to make it to my last match if you hurry. So don’t get in trouble today so you can leave as soon as possible, okay?”  _

Jaebum was on his best behavior that day, being a troublesome child as usual. His friends would try to provoke him to mess around but he stayed attentive, wanting to see his brother fence. The principal came in mid-class and called for Jaebum to the office. As he walked, however, he was ecstatic as he thought that his mother got him out of class early so they could go to Jaehyun’s match earlier. 

The rest of the day happened so quickly, but it was a day that haunted Jaebum the most. From the police officer escorting him to the hospital without speaking a word to arriving and quickly entering his mother’s warm embrace as she bawled. His emotions were so confused and he didn’t understand what was going on.

_       “Jaebum. Your hyung and your dad got into a car accident on the way to the fencing match. They are both in critical condition, but we are trying to do everything we can,” the nurse explained as his mother was nowhere near fit to speak as the tears kept pouring down her face.  _

Jaebum’s legs were the first to go weak as he fell to the floor. He stared blankly ahead of him, trying to comprehend what he was told, but he didn’t. He wanted to wake up and believe that it was all just a dream. He wanted to see the big smile on his brother’s face again and be more and more inspired. There were still so many years that they were supposed to experience together. 

But quickly that expectation of the future was shattered into pieces as his brother was announced as deceased, his father following soon after. Him and his mother were in completely despair, Jaebum didn’t attend school for weeks, barely keeping up with the work that his class president would drop off. 

Once Jaebum’s heart felt strong enough, he decided to enter his brother’s untouched room. He walked around and gazed at the walls where there were many pictures and articles of pro-fencers. Jaehyun’s medals still hung on the side of his bed, and his sabre case laid on the top of his bed. Jaebum opened it up and saw it shining in its place. Surrounding it were many pictures of Jaehyun and his friends pasted on the case, all in which he was smiling brightly just how Jaebum remembered. At the center of the top inner cover was a picture of Jaehyun and him at the last match he attended where Jaehyun put the gold medal he won on his brother. The boy could feel his tears pouring down his face, but in his heart he realized that he wanted to continue where his brother left out. He wanted to fulfill Jaehyun’s dreams of being a pro-fencer because that’s what felt right in his heart. 

 

And so, Jaebum practiced and worked his butt of to become a great fencer. He put his heart and soul into fencing and genuinely loved it. However, he knew deep in his heart that anyone knowing this side of him would question his passion for fencing and whether it was his own path. He was afraid that anyone knowing this side of him would pity him despite his pleas not to. But most of all, he didn’t want to tell anyone about his brother because he didn’t want to show anyone this weak side of him, including Youngjae. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The weekend quickly came by and Mark was on his laptop working on a business project, but he caught himself looking at his phone from time to time, waiting for a text message from Jackson that never came.

“He wants me to teach him how to swim but he can’t even be consistent with lessons,” he mumbled to himself as he checked his phone for the last time before throwing it on the adjacent couch. 

He took a deep breath and was about to continue working before he heard a ring at his doorbell. Closing his laptop immediately, he got up and answered the door only to find bright and smiley Jinyoung with homemade food.

      “I brought some food from my mom,” he smiled as he let himself in. 

      “Ahh, tell her I said thank you as usual. Do you wanna eat together?” Mark asked before closing the door and locking it. 

      “Yeah, sure. Sounds good. We haven’t hung out just one on one in a while, hm?” 

      “That’s true huh,” he nodded as he grabbed silverware to eat. 

Mark set out plates and utensils and the two began quietly eating. The Taiwanese boy didn’t really have anything to say as he wanted to be alone and finish up his work, but he couldn’t say no to Jinyoung and his mother since they have been so nice to him. 

     “So, what’s up? You seemed out of it yesterday. Did something happen?” Jinyoung asked as he finished chewing.

     “Ah yeah. I’m good. I just had an off day,” he looked up from his food and smiled, “but thanks for asking though. It means a lot.” 

In his head, Jinyoung rolled his eyes knowing that was the typical Mark Tuan answer to every time he asked about anything wrong in the other’s life. He just wished he could get more substance from him, so he pressed even further. 

      “No problem, but” Jinyoung paused as he tapped his chopsticks together, “I’ve been wondering. Is there anything going on with you and Jackson? I never expected you two to be acquainted. He was asking for you when you were gone. I don’t know if I told you that.” 

Mark raised a brow, getting a little irritated at this sudden relay of questions. 

     “Nothing really. We’re just friends. He asked me to teach him how to swim so I’ve also been doing that.” He gave a soft smile.

     “How did you two become friends?” He tilted his head, “Teaching him to swim too? That doesn’t sound like something you would do.”

     “It just kinda happened. For some reason, the guy likes to just hang out at the pool, despite not knowing how to swim which is funny, but I’m always the last one to leave so I had interactions with him.” He shrugged as he put more meat into his mouth. 

     “Ahhh, I see. That makes sense,” he nods, “Okay, one more question. Where did you go this time when you weren’t at school? I also saw an expensive car in your driveway and I was kinda shocked.” 

Mark was really starting to get annoyed. He didn’t know what was up with Jinyoung today, but he didn’t like it.

     “You really are asking a lot of questions today huh? I thought I told you that my absences are personal. Like no offense to you but there are some things I can’t say.” 

     “I’m just trying to make conversation!” he scoffed, “I’ve been your closest friend for years and you don’t trust me enough to tell me these things? How is it that Peniel, someone you just met like last year, know secrets about you that I don’t even know about? It makes no sense to me, Mark.” Jinyoung slammed his chopsticks down on the table, getting stressed.

     “It just kinda came out with Peniel and I apologize for telling him and not you, but I can’t break my promise to not say anything twice to tell you just to make things even. That’s just not how things work.” Mark sighed as he looked off to the side.

     “I’ve literally been friends with you since the moment you got here. I thought we were bros? Shouldn’t we have some sense of loyalty or trust? I’ve told you secrets of mine, but with you there’s just this huge wall in between us and I hate it.” Jinyoung got out of his seat and began to walk out, “I’m out of here. I lost my appetite.”

Mark watched as the other gets closer to the door and he felt himself heat up even more and so he stood up.

     “Are you friends with me to be friends with me!? Or are you friends with me for my secrets!?” he yelled.

     “I’m friends to be friends,” Jinyoung said as he turned around, “but friends share secrets, so I don’t even know if you’re friends to be friends or if you just need some company and free food from me.” 

Before Mark could say anything, Jinyoung leaft, slamming the door as he walks out. More stressed than ever, Mark threw his chopsticks on the floor and yelled. Of course he saw Jinyoung as a close friend, but he knew in his heart that trusting people was scary because they could turn on you so quickly just like Peniel. After taking a few breaths, Mark eventually calmed down and finished his business work.

 

However, Jinyoung, as soon as he walked out, had a smirk on his face.

_ Let's see if that’ll get him to crack.  _

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for waiting for an update. I hope I can put out another one soon. Please comment and give some kudos! I would love to hear how you guys think about this more developed 2jae part of the story :)


	12. Discovery

It was chemistry class and there was a substitute teacher. Jaebum sat way in the back alone, which was his favorite spot to sleep if he was honest. Youngjae sat in the front with his close friend, Yoo Youngjae, which yes, did cause a lot of confusion.  

Since there was a substitute teacher, no one was caring about class and even the substitute gave up. Youngjae, however, was working on some ASB stuff in class only to be tapped by his table partner.

    “Hey dude, Youngjae. Have you seen this video?” Youngjae shoved his phone in the other’s face and played the video.

Choi Youngjae was absolutely stunned. It was a video of him singing his composed song, My Day, which he wrote based on his fight with Jaebum, but also exaggerated. It was just the other day in the streets, but no one cared much about street performers that a video would be passed around. That was why he performed there, to keep it lowkey.

    “A moment with you in my day / I didn’t know it would happen to me / Baby it’s you who my heart is going to.” He had sang that song dozens of times, the lyrics hitting to heart each time. It was just shocking because it just couldn’t believe that the video was of him and no one knew. 

The day Youngjae wrote that song was a couple days after the start of their fight. His emotions were in a rut and he didn’t want to spend a moment without his boyfriend, but he couldn’t give in. He couldn’t act suddenly upset and then forgiving to Jaebum when he was also full of lies. He needed time away from Jaebum to figure out how to make this relationship work but every single day killed him being away from his love. The lyrics of the song didn’t 100% tell their relationship’s story, but he liked it that way. In the thought that Jaebum could come across his music and suspect that Ars was Youngjae, it gave Youngjae a sense of peace that at least his lyrics weren’t a dead giveaway. 

Yoo Youngjae soon tucked away his phone as the video finished. The other quickly turned around to see if Jaebum was listening, but the fencer was peacefully sleeping.

   “Amazing, right? The video is going viral and with almost 2 million views. Everyone’s trying to find who this guy is. Apparently it’s a self composed song an--”

   “Wait a minute, people are looking for him?!” Youngjae interrupted in disbelief. His music was getting big? No, not possible. It can’t be true.

   “Uh, yeah,” Youngjae answered a bit awkwardly due to the other’s sudden interjection, “I mean, his singing is all over the internet. This guy could seriously become famous.” 

    “Yeah, yeah. Of course. I wonder who he is,” the ASB president tried to play off and not sound too obvious. 

Youngjae moved over to talk to Daehyun and Choi Youngjae checked his phone only to receive a spam of texts from his music friend, Kyungsoo. 

**Singing Soo, 11:30am**

Dude, you’re popular now wtf

**Singing Soo, 11:31am**

I’m actually jealous what the hell wHERES MY FAME I HELPED YOU OUT DUDE. GIMME SOME. 

**Singing Soo, 11:32am**

All joking aside, call me when you’re free. I wanna talk to you, yeah?

**Singing Soo, 11:33am**

I SWEAR THO IF U THINK UR COOLER THAN ME ALREADY AND IGNORE ME IM GONNA GO TO JY AND KICK UR ASS ALL THE WAY TO PLUTO!!!

**Singing Soo, 11:43am**

Ok obviously im kidding pls stay as my friend

Youngjae laughed as he read the messages and put his phone back in his pocket, mentally reminding himself to give his friend a call because Pluto didn’t sound like a fun place to be. The bell rang soon after and everyone quickly left, but as Youngjae turned around to leave he saw Jaebum still in his sleep, taking a deep nap with his mouth hanging and drool dripping from his mouth just a bit. Despite them being on a break, Youngjae took the opportunity to take a picture of him before leaving.

_ Now what am I going to do about Jaebum? _

  
 

Jackson paced back and forth in his room with his phone in his head, trying to craft the perfect message to none other than Mark Tuan.

    “Hey friend! Lets swim tonight! Yeah?” he sighed as he deleted the text, “No, that sounds weird. Are you available for another swimming lesson tonight?” he deleted again in frustration, “No. That sounds too formal.” 

**Cool Swim Captain, 3:00pm**

Hey girlfriend! You and me swimming tonight after your practice? Whaddya say?

Jackson meant that text as a joke, but he found himself regretting even typing it as his thumb accidentally clicked send before he could delete the horrendous message,

    “OH. MY. GOD. NO. NO. NO!” Jackson yelled as he sent a second text to try his best to clear up what he first sent.

**Cool Swim Captain, 3:01pm**

Oh my god please dont think im weird it was a jOKE I DIDNT MEAN IT LIKE THAT. but i still wanna swim so please dont unfriend me.  (╥ω╥)

Jackson fell onto his bed, face first as he screamed into his pillow as he couldn’t believe what just happened. He already felt like Mark thought he was odd with the awkward stumbling, the weird visits to the pool, and the strange reaction to the first swim lesson. The text was supposed to be casual and normal, but Jackson couldn’t even do that.

Not too long later, Mark replied and Jackson’s heart jumped as he checked the message.

**Jackson Wang, 3:10pm**

lol ok meet u @ 8pm 

His heart relaxed and Jackson was excited for his swim lesson. After explaining to Principal Park the situation, he felt like it was best for Jackson to continue swimming as it might be the key to unlocking the mystery behind his condition. It was really heartwarming for Jackson especially to hear the principal believe that this condition wasn’t just Jackson’s fault or Jackson being lazy like his father thought, but treating him like someone who was struggling through this as well. 

_     "Do you have any relation to pools or swimming? Is there any clear memory you have about them?” the principal asked after hearing about Jackson’s experience. _

_    “No, I don’t even know how to swim. I’m so confused,” Jackson sighed, “I focused my whole life on fencing I hardly ever set foot in a pool.”  _

_    “Let’s just see how this goes. I’ll talk to Mark about everything so he stays in the loop.” _

_    “Don’t! It’s okay. I don’t think he needs this extra information,” he sighed, “It’s already a blessing enough that he’s helping. I don’t want him to feel obligated or pressured.” _

Having five more hours until their meeting, Jackson tried his best to relax and take a nap. He was quite anxious but it wasn’t too hard for him to fall asleep and calm down.

 

With a long day of classes, Youngjae found himself in the ASB office working on some paperwork at his desk. He usually sat himself away from the rest of the officers when they weren’t having meetings as the rest of them would usually fool around as they only joined so when they’d get popular for athletics, they would have these sort of specs to make them seem well-rounded and hardworking. 

   “Guys, this video has gotten viral quickly, have ya heard it?” the treasurer asked in which the rest shook their heads.

She quickly played the video and Youngjae couldn’t help but peak over their direction, feeling butterflies as he saw more and more people loving his music. He had to bite his lower lip to prevent him from singing along and being discovered.

   “Doesn’t the singer sound a bit like-” the secretary looked at the president who quickly turned back to his work, slightly blushing at almost getting caught.

    “What are you saying, man,” the vice president said as he hit the secretary’s head, “there’s no way it could be him. Where would he even have the time?”

Youngjae sighed in relief as the vice president was able to convince them that it wasn’t him singing. He quickly continued to finish his work as the others moved onto a different topic. 

 

After a long day, Youngjae was walking down the halls to go home until he saw Jaebum and Jinyoung in front of him. He quickly hid behind a nearby vending machine and listened. 

   “Hey Jaebum! Are you heading home now?” Jinyoung asked cheerfully, not expecting to see the other in the hallway.

   “Ah, yeah. Practice was tiring today. I’m ready to sleep,” he chuckled as he fist bumped the swimmer. 

   “I have a question if that’s cool with you, Jaebum,” Jinyoung continued with the same jolly grin of his.

   “Uhm, sure, yeah. What is it?” 

   “When are you and Youngjae gonna make up?” Jinyoung asked, making snooping Youngjae frozen as he was not expecting it, “It’s awkward during lunch and I miss eating and talking together as the four of us.”

   “I-I,” he sighed, “I don’t know. It’s just a sticky situation and I’m scared talking to him will only upset him even more, so I’m just trying to think of the best way to say things,”

   “Well, if you need anyone to talk to, I’m always here for you, man. I’m sure Mark is too, but you know how he is. It’s like speaking to a wall,” he laughed, “I’m joking of course. I’m sure he feels the same way as me.” 

   “Thanks, man. Well, I gotta get going. See you later!” Jaebum grinned, running in the opposite direction.

Jinyoung said his goodbye and smirked as he approached where Youngjae was hiding and put his hand on his shoulder. Youngjae turned around and awkwardly grinned at the other, surprised he knew where he was the whole time.

   “I can explain! I--”

   “You know, I mean it for you too. You can always talk to me and I really do miss us four. But I hope whatever you’re upset at, you at least heard a bit of how Jaebum feels.” Jinyoung gently shook the other before walking away, whistling as he did so. 

Youngjae watched as Jinyoung walked away, amazed. As he disappeared from his sight, he quickly remembered how he still had to call Kyungsoo. The boy ran outside and into his mother’s car. Once in the comfort of his own room, he called his friend.

   “DAMNIT YOUNGJAE. YOU COULDN’T HAVE CALLED ME ANY SOONER?!” Kyungsoo yelled from the phone, getting Youngjae to pull his phone away from his ear for a bit. 

   “I’m sorry. I had responsibilities. So what’s up?”

   “You’re famous that’s what’s up! Dude, even my principal wants you to come here if you don’t sign with a label. You should come here! It’s a great art school and we learn a lot an--”

   “Kyungsoo, I’m a soccer player, not a singer. And how do you even know your principal wants me what the heck. Are you best friends with him?”

   “No, but I have ways of knowing things.” he laughed, “Alright, soccer player Youngjae, but I much rather have singer Ars. Please at least consider it. It would be tons of fun and I may have not seen you play soccer, but I do think you shine as a singer.” 

   “Kyungsoo… I don’t know what to say.” Youngjae sighed.

   “It’s okay! Just think about it! I have to go because I still have homework to do. Talk to you later, yeah?” 

   “Sure, good night friend.” 

  
 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was mainly Youngjae's story as I felt like I wasn't giving the side characters enough information despite including them in the preview to this fic. I included a bit of Jackson so you guys wouldn't forget where he was at in the story. I promise next chapter will be mainly Markson. :) 
> 
> twt: @lovelybugis if anyone wants to talk and ask me questions!


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